At the End of The Day
by BlackAmethyst58
Summary: Just what exactly happens at the end of the day?In between the time skips and fast forwarding?One will be done for each episode and time skip.May or may not include my OC,Annabeth Wayne/Nightingale.This is done for Young Justice:Invasion.Starting from the first episode.Please read and review,tell me what you think!
1. Happy New Year

"Dude! Way to get your feet wet." Nightwing commented, leaning over Sphere's handles. Robin grinned along with La'gaan and Blue Beetle.

"Great job guys!" Nightingale called, standing atop of the vehicle. Blue Beetle grinned and whooped, keeping his hold on the alien in his grasp. Masked eyes looked back to the others as they swam under Sphere.

"Thanks Nena!" Blue Beetle called back, flying out the water with the struggling alien.

"Zatanna!" Nightingale called, lightly wrapping a rope around the Krolotean. The said magician said a silent spell and the rope tightened around the alien. The greenish-yellow alien began to yell.

Nightingale disregarded the yells, unraveled a portable ladder and attached it to Sphere.

"We'll take the hostages to the hospital and get them checked out." Nightwing suggested, watching the people climb onto the latter and hold themselves tight.

"Black Canary, Icon, and Green Arrow will accompany you. Green Arrow will maintain the perimeter with Icon while Black Canary will stay inside the hospital." Batman ordered, the three Leaguers nodded in agreement.

"I'll go back to the Cave with the Team and over view the mission." Nightingale told everyone, again earning multiple nods of agreement.

"We will take the Krolotean back to the Watchtower." Red Tornado ended. With that, the Justice League and Young Justice disbanded and went to follow out their final orders.

As Nightingale was doing final checks on the ladder, Blue Beetle whispered in her ear.

"The little alien said..."Blue Beetle trailed off as he talked lower, causing Nightingale's face to crunch up in anger.

"That little!" Nightingale said, glaring to the little green alien. She sighed and gave Nightwing the okay to fly off to the hospital.

~Mount Justice~

"Good work tonight team, hit the showers." Nightingale dismissed, smiling to the team. Robin high-fived Jaime as they entered Mt. Justice.

"Robin,a word please." Nightingale called,beckoning him over with a flick of her finger.

"Good luck Rob," Jaime muttered.

"What was that? I might just give you training tomorrow, I'm still your combat teacher and co-leader." Nightingale said as she turned her back and patted Sphere as it rolled away. Wolf trotted up to the leader and whimpered.

"Nothing Nena! Good night!" Jaime exclaimed, running off before Nightingale could reply.

Robin laughed and followed after his leader and Wolf trotted behind. They walked outside of the mountain and rested at a tree.

Nightingale breathed a sigh of relief as she peeled off her domino mask, brown hair flowing freely.

"What did you need to talk to me about, Annabeth?" Robin asked,looking at blue eyes that watched of Wolf as he walked around the grounds.

"You did good today. Saving six lives, taking out the zeta beam, and catching a Krolotean." Annabeth said, smiling down to her younger teammate.

"Thanks." Robin replied, leaning against the tree his friend currently sat in. Looking up to her, he took in her was a big change from what she previously wore from what he was told by Nightwing.

She wore a black body suit, ash gray leggings, black knee-high boots, arm length black gloves (one was a holocomputer), her blue utility belt was traded in for a gray belt, a black leg strap held her bo staff, composed of two eskrima sticks, a small pocket knife was hidden away in the back of her boot and on her arm was a black armband that had a single golden line through the center.

Annabeth raised an eyebrow, sensing something more was wrong.

"Tim? Somethings wrong,you can't hide things from me. You should know that by now." Annabeth jumped off silently from the tree and landed before the second Robin.

"Nothing's wrong. Just taking in what happened." Robin answered too quickly, turning rolled her eyes and grabbed his shoulder.

"Hey, if somethings wrong, you can tell me." Annabeth said earnestly. Blue eyes searched through the domino mask for a sign of defeat.

There.

On the left side of Robin's mask, the corner twitched just slightly. Annabeth would've missed it if she hadn't been studying him hard enough. Robin let out a sigh, knowing that it was pointless to lie to the older hero.

Annabeth was the type of person who as soon as she found out something was wrong, she would try everything in her power to help. But said help only went to a certain extent with certain people.

"It's Dick. He told me to lead Gama because he thought that I needed to get my feet wet. But when I asked him if it was because he didn't expect anything to happen, Dick just said not to get killed. He treats me like a kid!" Robin said, shrugging Annabeth's hand off. He turned and punched the tree they stood grabbed Robin's shoulder, turning him around to face her.

"You two are so much alike." Annabeth chuckled, peeling off Tim's mask to see his eyes. Tim whined and pulled away.

"How?"

"When we were younger, Dick didn't like being treated like a kid anymore then you did. People often teased and underestimated him because of his size. But I don't see people teasing him now." Annabeth told him with a smile. She leaned against the tree and tipped her head back as she looked up to the sky.

"Did you ever think that you were going to be this great superhero you are now Gale?" Tim asked. Annabeth chuckled and glanced over to him.

"To be honest,no. When Bruce came to me in the juvenile hall, I thought it was a publicity stunt. But then we actually spoke and he had genuine interest in me. And when he told me about the hero life, what could I say? I was a ten-year old girl coming out of a jail cell that I was in for two months. I had to say yes because I thought that if I didn't then he would throw me back in there." Annabeth replied honestly, her hair blowing around her.

"Batman gave me multiple opportunities to hang up my utility belt and take off the mask forever. Like the time I was forced to retire from the hero life for a year, to recover from a severe torture session with a masochistic maniac. He said he would've understood because of the mass amount of trauma I suffered within the one day alone. But it was because of me almost being forced to retire that I wanted to come back and be stronger than before.

"Every time I think about that week, I still cry to this day and I still have nightmares about it. But somehow, I think it helps me to know that I survived through something like that and I came out okay. I don't have any lasting trauma from that time, any that would jeopardize my likeness to be a hero at least.

"I feel like I'm stronger because of it. I mean if I can survive a week with a crazy magician, then I think I can live through just about anything. Now I'm not saying I'm Superman or Wonder Woman, but I think I'm the human version to them at least." Annabeth said as she pushed herself off of the tree.

Tim's blue eyes widened. Annabeth had come from juvie?

"I take it that you're shocked at this." Annabeth stated, glancing over to the third Robin with the corner of her eye. Tim couldn't find his voice, so he merely nodded. The older teen chuckled.

"You are probably the only person who knows about my origins. Well besides Bruce, Dick, Alfred, and the entire Justice League. When Bruce adopted me, he did everything he could to prevent the world from finding out where I came from. The documentation of my adoption was destroyed, only the people who were there to legalize the adoption know about it. And they were sworn to secrecy by Bruce." Annabeth told him as she looked back to the sky, the stars were shining brightly against the black canvas, dancing around the full moon.

"But what about your mom and dad-er biological dad? Didn't they have to be told about it before Bruce could even think about adopting you?" Tim asked, looking at the older hero. Annabeth frowned and looked down to the grass.

"My mother was there... But my real dad wasn't, he died when I was five. And my mother is also dead, killed three years ago by the Joker." Annabeth said through gritted teeth. She gripped her gloved hand so tightly that Tim would've sworn he heard a crack. Then she slowly released her tightened fist as she began to speak again.

"The woman I had tried to talk the Joker out of killing was her. I was stupid to think I could bargain with the Joker, but it was my mom and I couldn't just let her- I couldn't handle it like any other person who might've been held hostage for those few minutes."

Tim felt his chest tighten as he listened to the hero who treated him like a younger brother, the hero who he looked up to not only as a hero and leader, but as a friend and older sister of sorts.

"Annabeth, you don't need to-" Tim began, his voice came out soft but there was a beeping in his ear. Annabeth heard it as well, she tapped the small unit in her ear and spoke into it. Tim did the same after a few seconds.

"Batman to Nightingale, Robin, and Nightwing: There been reported gunfire between enemy gangs in Gotham. Rendezvous at my co-ordinance. Batman out." said the Dark Knight. Annabeth had slipped on her mask once again and Tim was about to do the same when the older one placed her hand on his and shook her head.

"Go home for the night Tim. It's ten and your parents are awake right? Go home and just hug them, and if they ask, don't give them a reason,just hug them." Annabeth instructed, she ruffled his hair before running back to the Cave. Robin stood there dumbfounded for a few seconds until what his leader said had finally processed.

He now understood why Nightingale lets him go home so early after patrolling Gotham, she wants him to be with his family as much as possible...

The ebony haired teen looked up to the sky and ran back to the Cave as well, changed from his Robin uniform and beamed to Gotham. As he ran home, he thought about everything Nightingale told him.

He opened the front door and took off his sunglasses,breathing heavily as sweat dripped down his forehead. There sat his father on the couch and his mother was standing behind the couch with a book in her hand, they looked over to the front door in surprise but then they calmed after seeing it was just their son.

"Welcome-Oh!" began, but he was taken off guard when his son suddenly barreled into him head on. The boy had wrapped his arms around him so tight that the man felt as though the blood circulation to his neck might just fail. Tim pulled away, vaulted over the couch and hugged his mom tightly as well.

"Tim,is everything alright? You're acting a bit strange..." questioned. She exchanged looks with her husband. "Did something terrible happen with the Team?Is Nightingale, Batman and Nightwing all right? What about Batgirl?"

"Nope. Everyone's fine. I just wanted to hug you. Both of you." Tim answered softly. walked over and wrapped his arms around the two as well.

'Anna B made me realize that at the end of the day my family will be waiting for me to come home.' Tim thought.


	2. Earthlings

As Superboy walked with Miss Martian, an overly excited Beast Boy as he was rambling on to Strange about his first alien souvenir, and Alanna, he was thinking over everything that lead up to this moment. The tension between himself and his former girlfriend.

'_She's not my girlfriend, not anymore at least. But she's abusing her powers so much so that its like she's not the same M'Gann as six years ago._' Conner thought bitterly, the green skinned martian looked over to the Kryptonian as if she heard this thoughts.

'_It wouldn't matter if she did. It's the truth but she just doesn't want to admit it._' Conner added in.

"Hey Superboy, did you hear me?" asked Beast Boy, green eyes shining with excitement. Superboy laughed nervously.

"Sorry BB, I wasn't actually. I kinda spaced out a bit, what were you saying?" Superboy asked, looking down to the Boy didn't seem to be fazed by the clone not listening.

"I was saying that Nightingale will be so stoked at seeing this! I mean it's awesome, it came directly from an alien while on a completely different planet! It's great!" Beast Boy exclaimed, punching the air with the fist that held the sash.

"Calm down before you hurt yourself." Superboy said with a chuckle as he ruffled the green hair.

"And besides, Nightingale's probably had her fair share of dealing with aliens. When the team was first formed, I don't think I was ever as calm as I am now." Superboy added in with a smile. '_And Miss Martian wasn't as brutal._' he added in silently.

"You weren't." the green skinned girl muttered ever so softly. Superboy decided to ignore that comment, knowing that she said it just for his ears only.

Beast Boy seemed to pick up on it, but didn't say anything. Superboy decided to end this conversation.

"On a scale of one to ten, how would you rate this mission BB?"

"Ten hundred thousand million!" Beast Boy said enthusiastically. Superboy ruffled his hair one final time before the Changeling went back to speaking to Alanna and Strange.

'_I heard what you were saying about me._' Miss Martian said through the link. '_It was mean and rude._'

'_It's not mean if it's the truth._' Superboy replied sharply, ending the mental link and blocking her out.

He sighed and continued on through the alien jungle. It was pointless to be fighting, or rather arguing. Nightingale wouldn't want them fighting, she had told him to be the better man and to just call a truce as friends and end everything on good terms. For the sake of the team and for Beast Boy, who saw the Kryptonian as an older brother and a role model.

When both Nightingale and Nightwing signed up to be co leaders, they agreed on one thing: for Nightingale to be the most vigilante in the teams behavior toward one another. If she saw something was wrong between Superboy and Miss Martian, then she would most likely intervene. So Superboy couldn't let the leader know, because she would want him to handle this the 'humanly' way.

And at the end of the day, Superboy and Miss Martian were still teammates. No matter what differences they had.


	3. Alienated

As the Bat family, Superboy, Miss Martian, Wonder Girl, and Captian Atom walked back to the cave, Nightingale remained on the beach.

Nightwing noticed that his co leader wasn't following and turned to spot her standing in the same spot.

"You guys go on ahead, I'll catch up in a bit." Nightwing told them with a smile. Batgirl and Robin nodded before continueing to walk off. When he was sure that they had entered the cave, Nightwing called out to his sister.

"Hey," he began as he walked 's hands her resting on her belt, masked eyes looking up toward the sky where the green jet had just been. "Everything okay?"

Nightingale looked over to the ebony then back to the sky, before slowly looking down toward the ocean.

"Yeah, everything's fine." Nightingale replied. Nightwing raised an eyebrow behind his domino mask.

"Come on Gale, I know something's up." Nightwing pressed, concern seeped into his voice. The said hero shrugged and sighed.

"I guess it's still weird to think that he's not going to be around for a while. I should think about what to tell the media." Nightingale muttered. Nightwing rolled his eyes and placed his hand on her shoulder.

"Don't worry about that. I'll handle it, go and talk to Conner." Nightwing said. Nightingale gave him a confused look. "Something's on his mind and you know how to get him to talk."

"Not true." Nightingale said as she kicked the sand.

"You were the one who managed to make a solid relationship with him within a few days after his liberation. He may not have fully trusted you at the time, but he was still able to speak to you without his attitude." Nightwing said matterafactly.

Nightingale shrugged again, she bent down to pick up a stray rock and tossed it out to the waves. It skipped nine times before sinking.

"He was like a lost puppy. Conner was mad and confused, mad at Superman for blowing him off and confused as to why the Man of Steel was doing that to his own clone. I know what it feels like to be blown off and tossed aside as unimportant, so I was able to connect with him a bit better. And plus I'm easy to talk to." Nightingale said as she gazed out to sea.

Nightwing frowned a bit and looked out to the sea as well.

"Remember when Aquaman gave me the necklace?"

Nightwing looked over to the brunet to see her with the golden necklace in the palm of her hand. It was a golden A like the one of Aquaman's belt with a cerulean blue stone at the tip.

Queen Mera told the brunet hero that it resembles the oceans color and 'mood'. The necklace allows the wearer to see, breath, and speak as if they were above the water. It also grants the wearer accelerated swimming, and thus the wearer would be thought to be an Atlantean to those who didn't notice the necklace.

"Yeah, it was for your thirteenth birthday." Nightwing nodded. "What does this have to do with-?"

"The first time I ever wore this necklace was in August. The day Artemis joined the team. Megan, Kaldur, Conner, you and I, we were all at the beach." Nightingale said suddenly. "When I put it on, Kaldur took me deeper than I would've ever thought to go in an ocean. That was the first memory I have with this necklace."

Nightingale raised her hand as if to throw the necklace into the sea. Nightwing was about to stop her but then Nightingale lowered her arm and placed the golden necklace into the small case on her belt.

"I'll go talk to Conner. See you at home." Nightingale said after a while of silence between the two. She kicked the sand one final time before walking back to the cave. Nightwing looked back to his sister and sighed deeply as a random breeze passed over him.

"How much longer will I have to keep this up?" Nightwing wondered softly as the wind died down just as Nightingale made it inside. The leader looked out to the sea then walked to go inside as well.

"Hey guys, do you know where Conner is?" Nightingale questioned as she entered the living room. There Jaime, Karen, Garfield, and Mal were sitting watching TV.

Jaime shook his head as he looked over to the others. "Sorry _Senorita_,no sign of him."

Nightingale hummed to herself and turned on her heel to walk out of the living room.

"_Nena_ wait!" Jaime called out, Nightingale saw him vault over the side of the couch and jog up to her.

"What's up?"

"La'gaan is what's up. He seemed really upset after you guys came back from the mission on Malina Island." Jaime said worriedly, his eyebrows knitted together. "He has a major _actitud problema_, but he's still my team mate. So could you talk to him?"

Nightingale smiled at the Texan's worry for the Atlantean. She nodded and gave him a smile.

"Thanks for bringing this to my attention. I was just on my way to speaking to Conner. Though I commend your watchful eye, I think Aquaman should be best to speak to him about this. But I'll speak to him," Nightingale reassured. Jaime seemed to relax a bit at her words.

"Either way, I have to speak to him. Paperwork is a bad feat. to being the leader of a secret team of teenaged superheros."

"_Trámites_? I wouldn't be able to do that! But thanks for going to talk to him _Nena_,I know he irritates you sometimes with his attitude." Jaime said, putting his hands into his pockets. Nightingale laughed and waved her hand, dismissing the idea.

"It's kinda apart of the job description to keep an eye on those who are on my team. More so after such a shocking mission such as this one." Nightingale said. "Good night Jaime." Nightingale called over her shoulder as she left.

"Good night _Senorita_!" Jaime called back.

As Nightingale walked, she thought about seeing Kaldur's face behind the mask.

_'Nightingale knew he was behind the mask all this time,but Annabeth refuses to believe her best friend attempted to kill us.' _Nightingale thought bitterly as she walked.

Nightingale walked passed the bedrooms and as she passed, holographic screens appeared with a picture of the person who's room it belongs to. Their real name, if they wished it, was shown as well as their designation and hero name.

She walked to Conner's room and knocked on the door.

"Con," Nightingale began, leaning against the wall. No response.

"Conner, are you in there?" Nightingale questioned again. No response.

"So he wants to play the silent treatment. And I highly doubt he's sleeping. I would've heard his snoring from down the hall." Nightingale muttered as she punched in the override code. She checked the log and it showed that he entered the room at 00:30. It was 00:55.

"Young Justice override Nightingale B00 AW5." she said.

"Override code Nightingale B00: Access Granted." read the computer. The door slid open and she took a step inside, the door slid shut behind her.

Conner was sitting at the desk, ear buds in his ears. He was writing something, Nightingale heard the scratching of the graphite against the paper.

"Conner. Conner. Conner!" Nightingale called repeatedly. She huffed and walked over to the clone, placing her hand on his shoulder heavily as to shake him.

"Con-Hey!" Nightingale yelled in surprise as Conner's hand flew back to strike her. She ducked her head and grabbed his wrist, twisting it behind his back tightly.

"It's just me, calm-!" Nightingale began again, but she felt a denim clad calf wrap around the back of her knee and felt his full body weight falling back against her body, forcing her tip backwards.

Nightingale let out a grunt as she quickly freed her arm and dug her knuckle into the small of his back, right into his spine. The Kryptonian yelled in pain and his own back hit the ground as Nightingale had slipped out and was crouched down beside him.

"Conner Kon-El Kent," Nightingale began with a growl, the whites of her mask narrowed. "If you ever attack me again with the intent to seriously harm me, I will cause irrecoverable bodily harm to you. And I'm sure you know that only thing that could harm you in such a way, I am capable of acquiring." the leader threatened.

She saw a flicker in blue eyes and decided she made her point. Nightingale needed to stop picking up her glares from Batman.

"Sorry, I was spaced out. I didn't notice it was you." Conner apologized. He sat up but with some difficulty.

"Where did you hit me? That really hurt."

"In 2009, a year before your creation, Superman was seriously injured. 'How is that possibly?' is what you're probably wondering, but he was stabbed in the same placed I struck you."Nightingale said,poking the clone in the place where she hit him. But this time it was much more lightly.

"Though it was no ordinary knife, it was a blade lined with Kryptonite. The very, very tip was forged of it. So when he was stabbed, it slipped through him as if he were human. It stopped a few inches short of the bone, but he was in serious pain and in serious danger. But thanks to a few people who I will not disclose the names of, he was saved and recovered. But the Kryptonite remained, though a very small amount of it. So in that place, there is a small scar." Nightingale told him as she crossed her legs. She saw his shocked face and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear as she continued.

"That spot is possibly the only spot in his entire body that will knock him off his feet as fast as Kryptonite. Not many people know of it and not many people will. So when Luthor or whoever took Superman's DNA, they also brought with it that one flaw. But in order for you to be knocked off your feet, that place has to have a direct amount of pressure. Say should I punch you there, my knuckle would need to hit first before the rest of my fist in order for you to go down. The same rule applies for Superman."

"Does Nightwing know about it?" Conner asked, twisting his back to crack it. Nightingale winced at the sound of bones popping and shivered at the sound before she answered.

"No, to my own surprise. Those who do know about it are Batman, Wonder Woman, Manhunter, Green Lantern, and myself, well now including you. But it is suppose to stay hidden, not to leave this room. Do you understand?"

Conner nodded and rubbed his arm as he stood. He grabbed Nightingale's hands and pulled her up, she went into the air a foot or two before standing properly.

"So what do you need to talk to me about?" Conner questioned as he paused the music he as listening to. They took a seat on his bed and Nightingale gave him a once over before speaking.

"We need to talk about Kaldur."

Conner rolled his eyes and grunted. "Why? I'd rather not talk about that traitor. He tried to _kill _us! If Superman wasn't, well, Superman then he would've died!"

"Exactly as to why I need to speak to you. I'll be talking to La'gaan and Aquaman about this as well, but as of right now who I'm most concerned about is you. Kaldur was one of the first people you met since your liberation. He was the person who helped you realize that it would be better to live your life your own way. The way you wanted to rather than listening to the selfish requests of scientists, who only saw you as an experiment, nothing of any true importance." Nightingale said softly as she placed her hand on his.

Conner gritted his teeth and looked away from his friend. "It just doesn't make sense, why would you go against your team and mentor and side with the bad guys? Tula's death was hard on all of us, but none of us wanted to kill each other! We just blamed ourselves somehow, trying to cope with the lose."

"Conner, Kaldur was in love with Tula. She was his best friend and he cared about her so much. I can see where he comes from in terms of blaming us for Tula's death. If Nightwing or Batman -God forbid- died while we were all on a mission together, it would've hit me hard as well. I grew up with Nightwing and Batman practically raised us for the nine years! Maybe I would even go as far as blaming everyone else. Blaming everyone else for her death is how he decided to cope with it, how he thinks he'll be able to move on. And now that he's with Black Manta, he thinks that getting revenge against the team will some how lay his guilt to rest. But it'll only emphasize it to a larger scale." Nightingale explained.

"You're starting to sound like Black Canary." Conner chuckled. Nightingale raised an eyebrow.

"Is that a compliment or an insult?" Nightingale questioned with a smile.

"A compliment." Conner replied. Nightingale smiled softly and they talked for a few more minutes. As Nightingale stood to leave the clones room, he stopped her with a question.

"What are we going to do about the eleven Leaguers that are off world for the trial?"

Nightingale sighed and rubbed the back of her neck.

"I don't know. Nightwing, Captain Atom and I are going to think of alibis for their secret identities. You don't need to worry about that." Nightingale replied, placing her hand on her hip while the other remained at her side.

"And what about as heroes?"

Nightingale remained quiet. She turned to the door again and stood before it as it opened.

"Don't worry about it." she said as she left the room. Conner sighed and ran a hand through his hair, hearing Nightingale's retreating footsteps down the hall. Nightingale walked to the zeta beams and waved to Karen and Mal as they were walking out of the living room.

"Heading home for the night Gale?" Mal asked, his arm draped over Karen's shoulders. Nightingale shook her head.

"I'll be out for patrols. See you tomorrow, good night." Nightingale replied as she beamed out from the cave.

~Gotham~

"Welcome home Madam Annabeth. Where are Master Bruce and Master Richard?" Alfred greeted as the said girl peeled off her mask and throw it on the desk in the Batcave.

"Dad is currently off world and Dick is probably with Tim and Barbara out in the city." Annabeth replied as she took off her belt and pulled off her gloves, she sat at the desk and stretched her arms over her head.

"Oh, is he at the Watchtower?" Alfred questioned, setting a cup of tea for his Madam. Annabeth shook her head and leaned back in the leather chair, she felt drowsy. All the stress from today was beginning to take its toll.

"He's off world, out of this galaxy probably. He's on Rimbor. We've finally discovered what happened during those sixteen hours, the six heroes who went missing went on a rampage. He and the rest of the Leaguers who had gone missing are going to stand trial in order to clear their names. We have no idea when they'll be back, so in the mean time I'll probably be in charge of the company or Dick'll be in charge." Annabeth said, her eyes were beginning to close and she knew that she needed to go to sleep.

"Sorry Alf for making you wait up so late. I'll be turning in for the night. Go get some sleep yourself." Annabeth said as she went to the elevator. Alfred followed her and they rode up to the main house in silence.

_'At the end of the day, being a hero isn't always a good thing. You're constantly on alert, constantly sleeping with one eye open even when your in the_ _protection_ _of your own home.'_ Annabeth thought.


	4. Salvage

Mount Justice

February 13 23:30 EST

Superboy placed Blue Beetle on his bed and wondered if the armor would ever come off, because sleeping in that black and blue armor seemed a bit uncomfortable.

"I don't know if you can hear me Scarab, but I can't see if the Freshman's okay if the armor is still on him." Superboy said softly, he felt ridiculous talking to the tech. But what surprised him was that the armor began to slowly retract, revealing the teen beneath it.

_'If you dare to think of hurting my host, I will not hesitate to harm you.' _ a voice threatened. It was faint but it seemed to mean business.

Superboy didn't reply to it, but he began poking around the teen softly, taking in the fact that he was stomped on twice by the now destroyed Golem.

_'My host is perfectly fine physically. My armor protects him from things that would instantly kill a normal human being. Though I sense instability emotionally, he requires what you humans call_ comfort.' said the Scarab. Superboy raised an eyebrow and chuckled.

"For an inner demon, you're pretty protective of Jaime." Superboy said, retracting his hand from poking the younger boy.

_'He is my host and if anything were to happen to him then I would be without a host. Isn't that what humans call_ lonesome_?'_

Superboy smiled a bit and wondered why Jaime wasn't waking up at the sound of their conversation.

"It would be pretty lonely." the clone agreed. He looked to the clock on his desk then back to the teen. "But my question is why do you act so cold? After hearing Jaime argue with you for a bit, it seems like you have a big fetish on hurting people."

The Scarab didn't answer but Jaime began to grunt and he blinked slowly before attempting to sit up.

"Where am I?" Jaime wondered. He hissed in pain as he pressed his hand to his forehead, muttering something that sounded like: _Dios me duele la cabeza._

Superboy shifted closer to the Hispanic and softly pushed his shoulders back to lie down again.

"Just lie down. You're in the Cave, in my room." Superboy said. Jaime let out a sigh and closed his eyes.

"Did I pass out?"

"After a while you did." Superboy said with a nod. "I called Gale about it, she said that it was possibly out of exhaustion. I mean, getting stomped on twice and having to deal with a Golem's pain will take a lot out of anyone."

Jaime turned to his side away from the clone. Superboy raised an eyebrow and placed his hand on the other teens shoulder. "You okay?" he asked.

Jaime gave a nod. "I'm fine _hermano_. Just a bit tired."

"Get some sleep. I'll just camp out in the living room." Superboy said with a smile. He stood from the bed and walked to the door.

"It's not that serious- Ow!"Jaime hissed in pain again, gripping his forehead. Superboy chuckled and the door slid open.

"Really, it's okay. Just sleep it off. Your _inner demon _said that you're fine." Superboy said, turning around slightly. "You know," he began again. Jaime looked up from rubbing his temples and gave the clone a questioning look.

"If you need to talk about what happened tonight, what happened with the Golem that is, I'm here to talk. Nightingale isn't the only one you need to talk to, even if she is the easiest one to talk to. But if you ever need to talk, about anything, I'm here."

Jaime smiled at his friends words. "Thanks man. That means a lot."

Superboy smiled in return and exited the room, muttering a soft 'Good night'.

Jaime leaned back and let out what was probably his tenth sigh.

It felt good to know that Jaime always had someone to talk to. He already knew that Nightingale was there for him, even if she seemed to put off a really unapproachable vibe, and he knew Nightwing was there for him too, but he didn't seem to have that type of vibe coming off of him. But Superboy had that gentle giant thing about him.

Miss Martian told him that Superboy was never this kind to anyone five years ago, that he was never as calm or rational. The green-skinned girl told him that Superboy always went head first into dangerous situations. Usually his logic came second, or rather, extremely late.

But Jaime would have to admit, he liked this Superboy and honestly didn't want to meet the Superboy from five years ago. And after hearing Nightwing's story about what the clone did to the four original members of the Team after they freed him from a pod, that further pushed his refusal of ever wanting to meet the clones former personality. Jaime unzipped his hoodie, took off his shirt and kicked off his shoes before jumping back into the Kryptonian's bed.

_'At the end of the day, sometimes my teammates are the only people who I can relate to.'_ was the last thing Jaime thought before slipping away.


	5. Beneath

El Paso,Texas

February 20, 01:32 MST

Jaime walked home from the school yard after letting Maurice go.

"I should've hauled him away to the cops. He's still doing illegal games and movies, he could get some jail time..." Jaime muttered to himself as he stuffed his hands deeper into his pockets.

'Where did you go Tye?' the teen thought.

_If you are so saddened by your friends disappearance, then inform Nightingale. It would be beneficial rather than to mope around as a dog._ said the Scarab.

Jaime scoffed. "Look's like you actually care." But he gave it a seconds thought. Maybe Nightingale really could help him...

"Let's try it." Jaime said softly, taking out the comms. unit from his pocket and putting it to his ear.

"Blue Beetle to Nightingale,"

* * *

Wayne Manor

February 20,4:00 EST

_Beep Beep. Beep Beep._

Annabeth Wayne let out a groan as she turned in her bed away from the noise.

"I just got to sleep a half hour ago!" the MW Foundation Ambassador groaned. Her holo-computer was beeping and she knew it had to be a call from one of her team.

She grabbed the small tablet like device and pulled it onto her bed, setting it on one of the many pillows she pressed a button.

"Nightingale." she said after a yawn.

"Hey Nena, it's Blue."came the teens voice. Annabeth blinked a few times and looked down to the screen.

Beside a picture of Jaime in his armor was Jaime Reyes: Blue Beetle

"Hey Blue,what's up? It's four AM in Gotham." Annabeth replied, she sat up in her bed and stretched her arms out.

"_Lo siento señorita_, but I have a _problema_." Jaime said, his voice lowered slightly. Annabeth's eyebrows raised a bit.

"What kind of problem?"

"Well, see, what's up is that- um," Jaime stammered. He let out a sigh and there was scratching, as if he was scratching the back of his head.

"My friend Tye, he's gone missing. He's always threatened to do it before but this time he called me- and he's really gone. I can't find him anywhere. I've searched everywhere for him Senorita, but I can't find him at all. He's really gone." Jaime said quickly. Annabeth shook her head and proceed the information.

"Okay, okay! Calm down, what's his full name?" Annabeth questioned, her curiosity was picked.

"Tye Longshadow, he's sixteen." Jaime answered quickly. Annabeth typed in the teens name, while the computer did a search on the teen she spoke.

"When was the last time you spoke to him?"

"Ah, probably two days ago. I think he called me around midnight saying that he was going to get on a bus to go to Houston. I tried to talk him out of it over the phone, but when I flew over there he was gone. A worker told me I had just missed the bus to Houston."

"Okay... And the bus to Houston left from the El Paso Bus Depot? I can make a list of people getting on that bus from security tapes, but it'll take some time to do so." Annabeth told him as she typed on the holographic keyboard. She set up a search for Tye, the computer would search for the teen in any of the security footage from the 18th around midnight.

The team leader probably wouldn't get a result until tomorrow.

"Thanks for doing this. And I'm really sorry about waking you up." Jaime said with a sigh. Annabeth yawned and waved it off, then she remembered that the Hispanic couldn't see her.

"It's fine. But now that I think about it," Annabeth began as she sat back against the mountain of pillows on her bed. "Batgirl, Wonder Girl, Miss Martian and Bumblebee rescued kidnapped kids from Bialya. Those kids were either homeless or runaways, so no one would care to look for them. Since you said that Tye was planning on running away..."

"Do you think Tye was among those taken? If he was then-!" Jaime began hurriedly. Annabeth sat up as she tried to calm him down.

"Let's not jump to any conclusions! You need to calm down and let me take it from here okay? I'll talk to the girls tomorrow and ask about Tye. There is a possibility that he wasn't even picked up and could actually be in Houston as we speak. You need to get home. Get some sleep, it'll clear your head out a bit. Trust me, I hardly get any sleep as it is." Annabeth told him. She said goodnight and instantly ended the call.

Setting the tablet on her nightstand to continue its search, she made a mental note to talk to the Alpha squad about the raid. Annabeth pulled the covers back around her and let out a sigh before slipping back into her dreams.

* * *

Mount Justice

February 23, 12:45 EST

"Recognized Nightingale B00"

The said hero exited the zeta beam in civilian clothing. She wore a white wife's beater with skinny jeans and ankle boots, black glasses covered her eyes and her hair was loose as always.

"Hey Nightingale," Lagaan greeted as he was walking from the living room. In his webbed hand was a glass of water.

"Hello Lagaan, have you seen Karen, Cassie, Megan, or Barbara?" Nightingale questioned, placing her hand inside of her pocket to retrieve the holographic computer.

"Karen and Cass are out in town, Megan is with Beast Boy and Barbara, last I saw, was in the weight room." Lagaan answered, he looked to the ceiling in thought before looking back to his leader.

"Thank you." Nightingale said, she walked passed him to go to the living room. Then she stopped and turned around to face him.

"You okay? Still angry?"

"Nightingale, I will always be upset that Kaldur sided with my Kings enemy. But as of now it isn't one of my priorities." Lagaan replied honestly, taking a drink form his glass. Nightingale nodded approvingly.

"Good to hear that. But if anything is wrong, just come and talk to me. Alright?" Nightingale told him with a smile. The Atlantean smiled back and nodded.

"I will, thanks." Lagaan said, he walked off. Nightingale smiled and continued to the gym. There was the auburn haired hero kicking a punching bag.

"Barbara, can we talk?" Nightingale asked. The auburn kicked the bag one final time and she looked over to her leader.

"Of course Nightingale. Everything okay?"

"Yes everything is fine. No need to worry, but I do need to ask you a question." Nightingale replied, tapping a few keys on the holographic keyboard before showing her friend the picture of Tye. "Was this boy apart of the group of kids you and the Alpha squad rescued from Bialya?"

Barbara carefully examined the picture and after a moment she shook her head. "No, sorry Nightingale. Is he someone you know?"

"No,thank may return to your training." Nightingale said, she turned and left out of the room without another word. Barbara stood in her place with a slight frown of confusion.

Nightingale was always one to be quick with her meetings. Whenever she needed to talk to someone, she always got right down to the point without wasting anytime. And not to mention she was a tad on the rude side but she was a good leader and someone who didn't seem approachable, even though she was easy to talk to.

At the right time that was.

Superboy and Miss Martian told her that Nightingale wasn't always so curt and rude with her teammates. That when she was Midknight, she was always smiling and laughing, making fun at everyone and teasing them. She was considered the little sister of the group since she acted like the ideal little sister. But then something happened to her and her personality did a complete 180. But no one would tell her what happened,it only seemed that the original Young Justice knew what happened. And whenever someone asked about her past, they would get a really rude remark by Nightingale.

_"What happened to me and my past has nothing to do with you so stay out of it! People who go digging in places where they aren't suppose to get hurt. And I'll fulfill this threat if I ever find you looking into me again."_

That was what Nightingale told her the night she caught Barbara looking into her past one night in the Batcave. Barbara wouldn't admit it to anyone, but that night scared her. She was scared to think what the veteran hero would do. Even if Batman had been her mentor before, none of his morals could've applied to Nightingale anymore since she was her own hero now.

Barbara shivered a bit and returned to punching the bag.

* * *

_Beep Beep. Beep Beep._

_The search of Tye at the bus depot came back with something!_ Nightingale thought. She opened the result and saw the video.

Tye never got on the bus.

Nightingale walked into the living room and saw that she was alone. She sat at the counter and began flipping through frames of a specific video, there was Tye standing at a wall, talking on the phone. He said something and closed his cellphone, then began walking toward the statue of Cochise. In the plaque of the statue was a small camera, it was there to catch any vandals who may want to defile the statue.

Tye was walking toward the statue, but a darkened figure grabbed him form behind and took him away. His skateboard was lost from his hold and it rolled away out of the picture.

"Hey _Nena_!" Jaime greeted with a smile as he walked into the room. Nightingale swiped her finger over the screen and it went black."Did you talk to the team?"

"I've spoken to Barbara, Tye wasn't among those rescued." Nightingale lied smoothly. She couldn't tell him about the new information. But she also had to remember that the Scarab was listening in to the conversation. That little bug could probably be decoding her words and telling Jaime of any flaws.

Jaime went to ask something but Nightingale's comms unit went off. She heard Nightwing's voice and then gave a quick reply before looking to the teen before her apologetically.

"I have to go." Nightingale said. She ran out of the living room and to the zeta beam.

_'At the end of the day, you have to lie to people in order to protect them. No matter how much they'll hate you for it in the end.'_


	6. Bloodlines

"Nightwing, I got your call but I was in-Hey!" Nightingale exclaimed in surprise as she saw a blur of white, red and brown run at her. The brunet moved to the side and used her bo-staff to strike the figure's back, which sent the figure crashing to the ground.

"Who are you?" Nightingale snapped, pointing one end of the black staff at the attacker. The boy instantly sat up and Nightingale was taken aback.

"The names Bart Allen AKA Impulse." said the younger boy quickly. He was standing before Nightingale within the blink of an eye and he smirked just a bit. "But you can call me whatever you want babe."

"You sound like Kid Flash." Nightingale groaned, snapping the bo-staff back into two separate eskrima sticks.

"Well Miss Nightingale AKA Annab- Mph!" Impulse's words were suddenly cut off when a black glove came over his mouth.

"If you value your life, you won't continue with that thought." Nightingale threatened, masked eyes narrowing. A red clad hand rested on her shoulder.

"Whoa, whoa there Gale, take it easy," Flash said soothingly. Nightingale retracted her hand from the boy's mouth and released her tense muscles.

"That's my, um, grandson." Flash said hesitantly. Nightingale's eyes widened behind the mask and she looked in between the two speedsters, then she looked to Wally.

"No wonder he reminds me of you! You two are-Wait, what does that make the two of you?" Nightingale said, pointing between Impulse and Kid Flash. The third generation speedster sighed and rubbed his head.

"He's my first cousin once removed." Kid Flash explained. That's when Nightingale noticed that Jay Garrick, Nightwing, Mal, Robin and Beast Boy were there as well.

Nightingale let out a sigh and brushed back her hair.

"Would someone please explain this to me? And Wally, I suggest you get your cousin away from me before I snap his arm." Nightingale said as she felt the youngest speedster picking at a tear in her uniform. She had just come back from California, some of the Leaguers needed assistance down there in evacuations as there was a mild earthquake.

Bart had fully picked off a piece of her uniform to reveal a upraised and not to mention distinctive scar. It was a jagged K etched into her hip and possibly down to her bone. Nightingale slapped Bart's hand away and covered the spot with her hand.

"That's when you got kidnapped right? Klarion the Witch bo-Ow!" Bart's quick rambling was cut short when Nightingale's gloved fist nailed him in his jaw.

Flash nor Kid Flash did anything to stop it, since they both knew why Nightingale struck the younger speedster. Nightwing didn't say anything about it either.

"Klarion is still a sensitive subject for Nightingale. So I'd advise for you not to bring it back up." Kid Flash said, helping the younger teen stand.

Nightingale's face was hidden by her hair and she looked up toward Beast Boy, Robin, and Mal.

"Yes, this scar is from that time. Though it was five years ago when this happened the memory is still fresh and I refuse to speak about it to anyone. So don't try it." she said to the three team members. Beast Boy exchanged looks with both Mal and Robin and looked back to their leader.

"Noted," Beast boy said. Then he gasped, a bright grin overcame his face. "He said 'Annab' before you covered his mouth! So are you Annabeth, Bruce Wayne's daughter? That is so cool!"

Nightingale narrowed her eyes toward the brunet speedster who laughed nervously and held up his hands.

"Whoops spoilers."

Nightingale looked back to Nightwing who then began to explain everything to his co-leader.

"So what happened to Neutron?" she asked as she folded her arms. Kid Flash stepped up and answered.

"He was taken into Justice League custody. Captain Atom is probably talking to him now."

Nightingale nodded slowly as she took in this information. But the fact that Bart traveled here from the future didn't surprise her, it just took her aback a little bit to know that Barry and Iris now had a child, or rather, will have one soon. She smiled a bit at the speedster's hyper activity. Maybe having Bart here wasn't as bad as it seemed at first, and besides, it's always a good thing to have a speedster around.

"So what are we going to do with him?" Robin asked, folding his arms. Nightwing seemed to be thinking it over, but Nightingale already had an answer.

"He'll be on the team." Nightingale said suddenly, surprising even Nightwing. She laughed a bit at everyone's surprised expression; the combat teacher walked to stand behind Bart and placed her hands on his shoulders. "There's always room for a speedster and it wouldn't be right to just leave him excluded from the Team. That's only if Flash is okay with it."

Nightingale looked over to Flash and Bart did the same with a grin.

"Okay." Flash said after a while. He smiled and put both of his hands on his hips. "I think having Impulse on the team will be a good...starter for him. I trust Gale and Nightwing to keep him out of trouble."

"Awesome!" Bart cheered. But Nightingale tightened her hands on his shoulders and gave him a smile, but behind it was a threat.

"He's on the team, but there is just one little condition." Nightingale turned Bart around and gave him a slight glare. "No more _spoilers_."

"Don't worry; if I give out too many then we'll be feeling the mode. And the mode is not a good thing!" Bart promised. Nightingale nodded approvingly and looked back to Nightwing.

"Wait, last time I checked this was my team. I still need time to think this over." Nightwing said with a slight glare. He looked over to the three generations of speedsters.

Nightingale rolled her eyes and walked to stand in front of the taller hero. Even though Nightingale was older by two months, Nightwing had her beat by height.

"We're co leaders, so this is your team just as much as it is mine." Nightingale challenged putting her hands on her hips. Nightwing folded her arms and leaned over her by a few inches.

"Is that so?"

"Actually it is." Nightingale nodded. She looked back to the four speedsters. "Give him one week. That's just about the same time Batman had to think over the formation of the team."

She turned back and smiled at Nightwing before moving away,

"It looks like Gale runs this show." Mal said softly, nudging Robin's shoulder. Robin snorted and covered his mouth, which earned Nightwing's attention. He glared toward the younger hero and looked back to Bart.

"Now concerning Impulse's...residence, will he be staying with any one of you? He could stay here in the Cave, I'm sure Beast Boy would help him settle in a bit better." Nightwing said, looking toward the green skinned boy.

"It's a no for me. Artemis already has one speedster she needs to worry about; I don't think she'd appreciate another one." Wally said, putting up his hands. Flash rubbed the back of his head and opened his mouth to speak until Jay interrupted him.

"I suppose he could stay with Joan and I.A new spark of life in the house would be good for the both of us I suppose." Jay shrugged.

"This is going to be so crash! I'm going to be staying with the original Flash!" Bart said, his green eyes were bright with excitement. Nightingale laughed a bit and folded her arms.

"Don't get too happy." Nightingale reminded as she flicked her finger against his head. "Follow me and we could set you up with a designation for the time being."

Impulse whooped and followed obediently behind the leader. That left Wally, Barry, Jay, Nightwing, Mal, Robin and Beast Boy to themselves.

"Gale seems to be on edge." Robin commented. Nightwing looked over to the third Robin.

"Why do you say that Rob?" Mal questioned, raising an eyebrow.

"Impulse brought up old scars." Nightwing answered. Wally clenched a tight fist.

"Literally." he muttered.

Mal, Robin and Beast Boy looked to each other.

As Nightingale was putting in Impulse's codes, the speedster was looking around the control room.

"Is this were all the tech stuff goes down in the Cave?"

"Yeah. But we hardly ever come in here, only when we need to access old case files that we can't normally access through the public holo computer. Things concerning any private matters of the team go here." Nightingale answered, she typed in the final command and it read back Impulse's designation.

"_Impulse A11_."

"What does the _A_ mean?"

"It means acquaintance. It allows you basic access to Mount Justice, but access to the Watchtower is something that the current leader of the Justice League has to grant." Nightingale said, she shut down the hard computer and turned to face the younger brunet.

"If something's on your mind then say it. Don't leave it in the dark." Nightingale told him.

"I'm sorry. You know...About your scar and everything. I was just so excited that I wanted that little piece of history, even though I was never the best history student." Impulse said sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck.

Nightingale nodded in understanding.

"Thank you. But this," Nightingale pointed a black covered finger to the jagged K. ", is a piece of history I would like to erase."

Impulse nodded and looked away. Nightingale sighed and pushed herself off of the desk.

"Let's get going." Nightingale said, ruffling his hair playfully. Impulse gave a weak protest and softly swatted her hand away as they walked from the room.

At the end of the day, maybe a little change was good every once in a while...


	7. Depths

"She's dead." Nightwing announced sadly. He sat down and rested his elbows on his knees as he hung his head. Nightingale felt her chest tighten and her body shook unwillingly. She saw from the corner of her mask that Miss Martian was covering her mouth, as if to hold back her cries and Superboy's fists were clenched.

_'No, this can't be happening! Not again!' _Nightingale thought quickly as she looked at Artemis's body. She made sure that Miss Martian hadn't heard her thoughts.

She bent down behind Nightwing and placed her hands on his shoulders, squeezing them slightly before wrapping her arms around him from behind. Nightwing's hands grasped her own and Nightingale felt them shaking.

Mount Justice

March 20, 03:55 EDT

Nightingale was leaning against the wall in the lobby and was silently dealing on her own. She wanted to be in the living room with the rest of her team, but she couldn't. It was too overwhelming for her to deal with it. First Tula, now Artemis? Did this team have bad luck forced upon it? Nightingale was silently pondering this question until she heard Nightwing's voice call out to her.

"You okay?" Nightwing asked as he brought her into a hug. Nightingale wanted to break down and let out all of her tears, but knowing that her team was just down the hall, she bit the inside of her lip and shook her head.

"Yeah." she said softly, not trusting herself to allow her voice to go any higher than that. Nightwing let out a deep sigh and pushed her away slightly.

"I'm going to go tell Wally. Will you be okay with the Team until I get back?"

Nightingale nodded slightly, her mask was beginning to dampen from the unshed tears. "I'll be okay. Do you want me to go with you? I know Wally's going to want to...hurt you for this."

"It's okay. Just stay here with the Team, they need you right now to be strong and they definitely need someone to talk to right about now. And about Wally, I think I deserve to be smacked around a few times by him but I think I'll be okay." Nightwing told his sister. Nightingale nodded and gave him a weak smile.

"Good luck, see you when you get back." she said as he walked to the zeta beam. It started up and then went silent again after a few seconds.

_'His right hand twitched. It was hardly noticeable, but I felt it on my shoulder. I've been sensitive to touch ever since that _accident _five years ago. And there was a certain thing in his voice...' _Nightingale thought after Nightwing left. She walked to the zeta beam and pulled up the beams history.

Nightwing B01:

Destination: Blüdhaven

March 20, 03:57 EDT

Blüdhaven? Why was Nightwing going there to tell Wally? Perhaps he wanted Wally's undivided attention when he told the former Kid Flash. But something was itching in the pit of Nightingale's stomach and she didn't like that feeling. She never did.

"Superboy, I'm sorry to leave like this but Nightwing's going to need help in telling Wally. I'll be back as soon as I can." Nightingale said into the comms. The clone gave her a reply of acknowledgement before she beamed away.

Blüdhaven

March 20, 04:00 EDT

Jumping along the rooftops, following after Nightwing's signal, Nightingale became more and more doubtful that Dick was just going to inform Wally of Artemis' death.

"He wouldn't lie to the Team...He would never lie to me!" Nightingale said ever so softly. But then she thought about things he'd lied about in the past. "Would he?" she added sadly.

Then she reached the point where Nightwing was. A storage warehouse that belonged to a distant part of Wayne Enterprises.

_'Wayne Shipping's ties to Blüdhaven were cut off a few years back due to the mass amount of crime here. Dad couldn't and wouldn't risk it. And since it was deserted, it would be the perfect spot to meet someone in private.'_ Nightingale thought as she slipped into the rafters. Then a distant thought reached her. _'Or if he was meeting someone he isn't supposed to.'_

She spotted Nightwing looking over a picture of him and Artemis on her first day of school at Gotham Academy.

"We'll laugh about this someday." he muttered softly. Nightingale shifted her foot slightly and it made a creek, but it was overpowered by something being bumped into.

Nightwing visibly tensed and turned around sharply. "Wally?" he questioned hopefully.

A figure stepped out and Nightingale pressed the side of her mask to get a better picture. The whites of the domino mask shone over and they zoomed in to the figure below.

_'Kaldur'ahm AKA Aqualad_' flashed over her eyes as it picked out specific details. Nightingale bit back her gasp as Wally and another hooded figure came out from behind crates.

The person pulled off their hood and Nightingale nearly passed out. It was Artemis and she did not look happy.

_'She's alive?!'_ Nightingale screamed mentally. Nightingale silently listened into their conversation, not even daring to take a breath. She saw that none of them even knew she was there, Nightingale supposed that putting in those extra hours with Batman really did pay off. Her holo-computer was recording the conversation through her mask, just in case.

Nightwing placed a golden necklace around Artemis's neck. Wally's eyes narrowed slightly and he bit out a remark about the necklace. Nightwing said something in reply and claimed it to be a Glamour Charm. Artemis was a completely new person, Nightingale didn't even recognize her!

After a few more minutes, Kaldur and Artemis then began to leave from the warehouse while Wally and Nightwing proceeded to the roof. Nightingale hid in the shadows and waited until she was certain that they were on the roof to come out from hiding.

She slipped up to the roof as well, remaining hidden behind a wall of crates that was stacked near the edge of the roof. Wally and Nightwing shared a few words and Wally retreated to return home and Nightwing jumped from the roof to go back to the zeta beam.

But Nightingale was already a few steps ahead of him. She had returned to the Cave just in time, entering the Cave through the zeta beam in the garage.

She walked to the lobby and saw Nightwing walking from the zeta beam.

"Hey, you okay?" Nightwing questioned with a soft smile. Nightingale gripped her glove tightly and decided to put on her own show. Two could play the Lying Game.

Nightingale hugged him tightly and tears came down again. Nightwing hugged her tightly and rubbed her back.

"Let's go out to the beach, the sun should be rising soon. Maybe it'll calm you down and get you to talk." Nightwing soothed.

Nightingale wanted to punch Nightwing for lying to the Team. For lying to her. For faking Artemis' death and putting the Team through all this grief. For making Green Arrow grieve so much, and for causing pain to Artemis's mother. Pain that she didn't need or deserve.

Nightwing lead Nightingale outside and as soon as they made it to the beach, far enough from the Cave, Nightingale turned the taller teen around and punched his jaw so hard she heard a crack.

Nightwing let out a pained yell and fell back onto the sand. "What was that for?!"he exclaimed, a line of blood streamed down from his mouth.

"You _LIED_!" Nightingale yelled, angry tears fell from her eyes. She gently took the mask off from her face and allowed her angry blue eyes to glare clearly at her brother.

"About what?" Nightwing asked cautiously. He began to stand slowly, watching Annabeth's movements.

"About Artemis, Kaldur- everything!" Annabeth yelled, throwing her arm out to the side. She took a deep breath and lowered her voice considerably. "You lied about Artemis's death. You lied about Kaldur betraying the team. Everything Dick, you lied about it!"

Nightwing's eyes widened behind his mask and his jaw dropped. "H-How did you...?"

"You have a tell Dick, everyone does." Annabeth replied with exasperation, throwing her arms in the air slightly and letting them fall back down. "When you said you were going to tell Wally about Artemis, I checked the logs. You went to Blüdhaven." Annabeth said with narrowed eyes. She allowed her tears to fall and she let out a laugh.

"Why did you do it? Was it worth putting all of us through this pain? Was it worth it? Megan is a mess! Conner is trying to deal with all of his emotions. And I'm...You of all people should know how I would've felt! Losing my mom, then Tula, and then you fake Artemis's death like this..."Annabeth said softly, her voice was broken as blue eyes looked at the domino mask.

"Anna B, come on. You have to understand why I did this!" Nightwing yelled. But that brief burst of anger fled after he saw that Annabeth was unfazed. He dropped his voice. "I'm trying to find out about the Light's Partner. I'm trying to stop the Invasion. Please tell me you understand." Nightwing pleaded. Annabeth squeezed her eyes tightly and shook her head.

"I understand." Annabeth said softly, sparking a bud of hope within Nightwing. But her next words shattered any of this hope. "But you said it yourself after we went through in that simulation, you said that you didn't think you could be like Batman. Putting everything on the line for the sake of a mission. But this is exactly what you're doing! You're hurting your team Dick!"

"Anna B..._Please_." Nightwing pleaded again, a familiar heavy and tight feeling stirred in his chest. Annabeth had stopped crying, but her eyes were still glassy from her tears.

"I thought I was your partner Dick, your best friend, your _sister_. I thought our bond of being best friends for those nine years meant something to you. I thought we told each other everything..." In Annabeth's eyes, anger was replaced with hurt and exhaustion. She shrugged and wiped at her left over tears. "But I guess not. I guess you still feel as though you need to hide things from me."

Annabeth turned around and began to walk back to the Cave. Nightwing felt his chest tightening to a painful measure and he just wanted to hit himself for being so stupid. He should've known that the friendships Annabeth made were fragile. The fact that she still trusted him so much after everything that's happened between them...

"Annabeth wait!" Nightwing called out as he ran after her. He grabbed Annabeth's wrist and turned her around, Annabeth glared at him fiercely and yanked her wrist free.

"I am _NOT_ something that you can just sacrifice for a mission! Nor is _ANYONE_ on this team a sacrifice!" Annabeth snapped, stabbing her finger into his chest. "If our friendship and partnership means that little to you then say it aloud! Don't hold it in like some coward!"

Annabeth took in a deep breath and narrowed her eyes. "I won't say anything about what I saw or heard today. The fact that Artemis is still alive and that Kaldur is in deep undercover for you won't be repeated. But as of right now, you're dead to me. And you better work hard to regain my trust or else I'll sabotage this mission myself."

"You wouldn't." Nightwing challenged, narrowing his eyes slightly. "That would be treason if you did."

Annabeth scoffed. "Then you don't know me. I was able to live perfectly fine on my own for three months. Do not test me."

Blue eyes were locked with the domino mask and Nightwing looked away finally, signifying that Annabeth won their silent battle. Annabeth turned and walked away for the final time, this time she knew that Nightwing wouldn't try to stop her.

Nightwing collapsed to the sand and gripped his ebony hair tightly. He messed up. He messed up big time and he knew it.

_'Why did I think I could hide it from her? Why did I hide it from her? She probably hates me now! This wasn't how I wanted her to find out...'_

Nightwing let out a groan and then a hiss of pain as he felt a sharp pain fire up through his jaw. He had forgotten all about his jaw.

"She didn't break it, but she could've." Nightwing mumbled, rubbing his bruising face. He stood weakly and looked back to the rising sun.

'_At the end of the day' _he thought '_your best friend is your worst enemy. I thought I was portraying that with Kaldur but now I'm actually living it with Nightingale.'_


	8. Satisfaction

Metropolis

March 21, 19:30 EDT

Green Arrow sat on top of a random roof top; he didn't know what building it was. His bow was quiver were on the roof behind him, they were discarded when the green clad hero got to the roof.

"Hey," said a soft voice. Green Arrow didn't look back at the person in whom the voice belonged to. He continued to look out to the city and let out a soft sigh. The person sat beside him and that's when Green Arrow finally replied.

"What are you doing here Nightingale?"

"I'm here to check up on you." Nightingale admitted proudly. She smiled a bit toward the archer, but it fell as she saw his face. He seemed to be at war with himself. The brunet hero sighed and looked back out to the city.

"You're fighting with yourself. Tell me what happened." Nightingale offered, poking his arm. But it moved her more than it did the blonde. Green Arrow stayed silent.

"So, I heard that Luthor's office was blown up. And I heard that Roy was pretty angry when you and Red Arrow spoke to him in the hospital. I also heard that he's taken up the name Arsenal. But what I haven't heard is your side. What's your view of the story?" Nightingale inquired, bending one of her knees while the other dangled over the edge. She put her chin on her knee and quickly added in, "Emotionally."

"So Red Arrow called you," Green Arrow confirmed. Nightingale gave a soft chuckle and shrugged.

"You could say that. It's more like I was in the neighborhood for Foundation stuff. I heard the explosion from the meeting." Nightingale explained as she looked to the sky. She glanced back at the archer and frowned.

"Look, Ollie. I can't help you if you don't tell me how you're feeling. You're fighting with yourself, it's obvious. Red told me how horrible you feel, thinking that you ruined to protégé's lives."

Green Arrow let out a sigh and plucked an arrow from the quiver, he fiddled with the point.

"What kind of person am I? I didn't even realize that it wasn't the real Roy and I left him in Luthor's hands for eight years. How could I not notice?" the blonde wondered silently. Nightingale placed a hand on his shoulder, silently encouraging him to continue.

"He was so upset with me when Red and I spoke to him in the hospital. Roy was so hurt...The anger practically flowed off of him. I think that was one time where I ultimately couldn't say anything against him because I didn't have the right too." Green Arrow continued. "When I saw Luthor's office in flames, I felt a rock drop into the pit of my stomach. I thought I had failed him again."

"Ollie," Nightingale began, moving her hand down from his shoulder to his hand where it was now playing with the fletching. She gently took the arrow away from his hands and set it beside her.

"Roy is confused, angry, lost, and maybe even scared. He was alone for eight years, in isolation, in enemy hands. It's going to take some time for him to come to terms with everything. Deep down, he's hurting and deep down he knows that he can't blame you for everything that happened to him. But the only thing that matters and the only thing that should matter is that he's here, he's alive, and he's healthy.

"His arm may be amputated, but a limb is not on the same level as one's life. Trust me, I know. I've gone through everything, being kidnapped, beaten, drugged, torture, I was even killed once, and I've cheated death almost three times. But do I blame Batman or the Team or the League for any of that? No. I can't and I never will because they weren't the ones who did all of those horrible things to me." Nightingale said, masked eyes softened as she continued.

"I know how Roy feels in terms of being forgotten, turned away, feeling as though you weren't important. I watched Batman embrace a doppelgänger behind a one-way wall, I saw Nightwing, Kid Flash and Aqualad all comfort that fake me. People who I thought would be able to distinguish a copy from the original, but they didn't. I was hurt, I felt as if I wanted to die then and there. I thought I would never be able to feel such a worse pain."

"Nightingale, everyone looked for you. Batman sent out the entire League to find you. Even that fourth Green Lantern, Sophia!" Green Arrow said. Nightingale nodded in acknowledgement.

"I know that. All I'm saying is that I can relate to Roy, I know how he must be feeling right about now. He needs to learn how to get past all of that anger and realize that he should be thankful that they hadn't 'deleted' him like Jim said Cadmus would've. But he won't forgive you until you forgive yourself."

Green Arrow said nothing as he looked down to his hands, folding them since he didn't have his arrow.

"How can I forgive myself when I know that-?"

"Oliver Queen! Listen to my words or I'll throw you off of this rooftop!" Nightingale threatened as she plucked the side of his head sharply. She pinched the bridge of her nose and stood, putting her hands on her belt.

"Roy needs you. He may say that he needs space, don't believe it. I said the same thing to Batman as I was recovering from Klarion's kidnapping, never have I ever felt so alone when I said that. But Batman never left me alone, he was constantly around me to show me that he would always be there whether I liked it or not. Those little things made me feel better. It made the loneliness go away because someone was always there and they cared about me. Roy needs to be told that no matter what, whether he likes it or not, you're always going to be there for him. What happened in the past is in the past, there's no use dwelling in it. What matters is what happens right now. And that's all that should ever matter.

"And about Artemis...I don't think she would want you blaming yourself for her death. It wasn't your fault, you weren't even there. Kaldur killed her." Nightingale spat out, she gripped her fist tightly.

_'I have to now carry Nightwing's lie and sell it. That stupid jerk.' _Nightingale thought angrily.

"I'm sorry, I don't want to ask, but where were you?" Green Arrow asked, finally looking at the brunet. Nightingale waved it off and fell back to a sitting position on the ledge.

"I was positioned in the water with Lagoon Boy, Miss Martian and Superboy were in the bio-ship and Artemis was with Nightwing in one of the towers looking over the coast. There were stray Manta men in my sector and I had my hands full. Lagoon Boy was captured due to my inability to subdue those men. And don't tell me otherwise, it was partially my fault anyway. I heard Nightwing's mental distress and went to shore, by the time I got to his side, he had declared her dead." Nightingale recalled sadly. But the fact that Artemis was still alive and Nightingale was forced to lie to one of the people who watched her grew up.

There was a small beep and Nightingale looked to the holocomputer, it was a text message from one of her assistants. It was time to go back to Gotham.

"I need to get back to the Foundation." Nightingale announced, standing from her spot and patting off the dirt from her leggings. "Seriously, GA, go talk to Roy and make sure he knows that you'll always be there."

Nightingale began to walk away from the archer. A breeze traveled by and as did her voice. "Whether he acknowledges it or not."

Green Arrow smiled a bit and grabbed his quiver and bow, as well as the discarded arrow. He noticed what the arrow was resting on top of: a small device, no bigger than an iPod shuffle. When Green Arrow picked it up, a blue screen appeared and it was a map of Metropolis with a small red blip. When a green finger clicked on the blip it showed who the blip was: Roy Harper/Speedy/Arsenal.

At the end of the day, sometimes it took someone with an attitude to help you realize the important things.


	9. Darkest

Hall of Justice

March 24, 03:14 EDT

Nightwing and Wally remained in a deadlock silence.

"I'm going to speak to Nightingale." Nightwing announced, breaking the thick silence between him and his best friend. Wally narrowed his eyes.

"Do you even know where Anna B is right now?" Wally questioned carefully. Nightwing gave him a confused frown as his eyebrows knitted together.

"Yeah, Mal said that she's getting her wrist checked out." Nightwing said, but there was a hint of hesitation. Wally sighed and shook his head at the answer.

"They took her." Wally told him with soft eyes. Nightwing's own masked eyes widened and he shook his head, but Wally continued.

"She must've known that the dead man switch was a fake and went to pursue him. Some fighting probably happened but in the end they took her, and most likely by force."

Nightwing fell back into the seat and ran his hands through his hair. Wally reached into his pocket and pulled out a chain, he put it on the table before the ebony.

"Mal found you wearing this." Wally said, pointing to the chain. Nightwing lifted his head and saw the golden A necklace. He quickly snatched it up and looked at it.

"What is that?" Wally questioned, having never seen that necklace before. Nightwing clutched the necklace tightly in his hand and looked back to Wally.

"It's a necklace that belonged to Annabeth. Aquaman gave it to her for her thirteenth birthday; it was what allowed her to stay underwater for long periods of time. It lets her see, breath, and talk underwater like she was an Atlantean." Nightwing explained .He put it in his belt and sat back again. Wally said nothing.

"She knows." Nightwing mumbled after a few seconds. Wally raised a questioning eyebrow. "She knows?" he repeated.

"About Artemis, Kaldur, everything. She knows about it all." Nightwing admitted. Wally's breath hitched.

"How! How did you let her of all people find out!?"Wally yelled, gripping Nightwing up once again. Emerald eyes were blazing with new anger.

"She followed me to Blüdhaven and saw everything. Nightingale confronted me afterwards, and if you haven't noticed, that's why I have this bruise on my face." Nightwing answered softly. He raised the back of his hand and brushed it against the spot, concealer was wiped away to reveal the bruise. It was purple and black, covering most of his right jaw .Wally's eyes widened and released his friend.

"I can see the outcome of that." Wally muttered.

Nightwing nodded and slammed his fist against the table. He gripped his fist tightly.

"You should've seen how hurt she was. She was to the point of tears...Never in all of the years of being with her have I ever made her cry." Nightwing said softly, his fist shook in anger now. Wally folded his arms and rolled his eyes.

"I feel horrible." Nightwing added softly.

"You should. I told you repeatedly that we should've included her in this, but you refused." Wally snapped. "Now you have to deal with the pain."

The auburn went to go take a seat in the seat that was farthest away from his best friend and began to silently pray for his girlfriend's safe return, as well as the well being for Nightingale and the captured members of the team.

Nightwing gripped his hair and began to think back to what happened just hours ago.

* * *

Mount Justice

March 23, 21:05 EDT

Nightwing looked between the device in Impulse's hands and the two younger heroes.

"Rookie mistake!" he snapped after Blue was finished with his explanation. Nightingale stepped up behind him and placed her hand on his shoulder then took a few steps to stand behind the two other heroes.

"Exactly. A rookie mistake that won't happen again. That's the point of it being a mistake." Nightingale said firmly. Nightwing sighed and held out his hand for the device.

"Give it here." he said, Impulse obeyed the demand and placed it into his new leaders hand.

Nightwing turned and walked back to the holocomputer Nightingale had set up to analyze the device. Nightingale then began speaking to the two about the fight.

"Are you okay at least? No injuries?" Nightingale said as she pinched the bridge of her nose, blowing off Nightwing's obvious anger.

Impulse let out a laugh and waved it hand.

"_Please_! They couldn't touch us!" Impulse boasted, but Blue smacked the back of his head.

"No _Señorita_, we're okay." Blue answered honestly. Nightingale nodded in approval and looked back to the blue and black clad teen. "You said a ninja girl attacked you. Could you describe her?"

"She had black hair, wore a tan and black costume, and had on a mask. She looked like a _tiger_." Blue said, folding his arms. Nightingale inwardly smirked.

'_So Artemis is now taking the form of a tiger...'_Nightingale thought. She hummed to herself.

"It's a possibility that she's with Aqualad, like a...right-hand man so to speak. The Terror Twins and Icicle Jr. aren't that smart, so that ninja could be the one he trusts in the most." Nightingale told them as she tapped a finger against her chin.

"Probably." Blue agreed with a shrug. Impulse looked around.

"Where are BB and Superboy?"

"BB is in his room watching TV most likely and Conner is in the Grotto." Nightingale answered. She walked back to Nightwing and began to look over analyzes.

Impulse and Blue joined her after a while, looking at the multiple screens and hearing the occasional typing. Nightingale suddenly let out a gasp and then a groan as she smacked her forehead with her hand.

"I'm an idiot!" Nightwing said, he turned around and grabbed his eskrima sticks from the leg holster. Nightingale grabbed her bo-staff but Conner was thrown at the two leaders, knocking them down to the ground.

Nightingale felt the wind leave her lungs as she was the one who broke both Nightwing's and Conner's fall.

"Get up Nightwing!" Nightingale gasped, her chest was being crushed by both of their combined weight, which was possibly two to three hundred pounds worth, not adding in the muscle weight.

She heard ice cracking and felt a sudden chill run through her back.

_'Icicle Jr. is on the higher level.'_ Nightingale noticed.

"This one's classic! Ice over the floor so the speedster can't get traction, right?" she heard Impulse laugh. She faintly saw Blue Beetle take flight. There was a crashing and Impulse's voice again.

"Wrong." Nightingale could hear his smile. Then faint vibrations of approaching footsteps.

"That works so nice, I'll try it twice!" he said. Nightingale tried pushing on Nightwing again, but her arms were painfully pinned down as well. She kicked her knees and managed to get a groan from her brother.

She heard a strangled yelp of surprise then felt a second set of footsteps, much heavier than the first set.

_'Probably the Terror Twins, Aqualad isn't that heavy footed. Impulse probably knocked down Junior.' _Nightingale regarded. There was the sound of fists hitting against someone and Impulse's groan of pain.

"Ah my hands! What are you made of?" Impulse exclaimed.

"Snips and snails and puppy dog tails."

_'Tommy Terror, so the other was Tuppence.'_ Nightingale pushed against the limp leader on top of her.

There was a click and a faint whirring.

"Ah, nice try but I'll just vibrate right out of this. Ah oh, no speed. Ah ah, I'm moded aren't I?" Impulse wondered quickly. There was a loud smack and Impulse yelped, then something heavy hit the floor.

"Impulse!" Nightingale exclaimed, helplessly pushing up against her brother and the Kryptonian clone. She saw Blue finally stepping in, using his sonic cannon against Tommy, and hearing the Terror's cries of pain. The sonic cannon seemed to wake up Nightwing, because he suddenly pushed off Conner and stood.

Nightingale gratefully took in a breath of air and went to Conner, he was knocked out cold. But she saw that before Nightwing could even stand properly for a minute, a flash of tan and black appeared from thin air and kicked him across his face then knocked his feet out from under him.

Nightingale looked back to them fully to see that her brother was pinned down by the tiger like girl. An inhibitor collar was placed around his neck with a snap and she saw his smirk.

"Sorry, no powers for your collar to turn off." he said. Nightingale stood and was about to attack Tuppence who she saw was holding Beast Boy, but a large hand grabbed her throat and snapped a collar around her neck. There was a loud smack and she heard Artemis's pained outcry, then the crackling sound of the inhibitor collar and Nightwing's yells of pain.

"Nightwing!" Nightingale exclaimed, she tried to fight back against Tommy but he threw her down and held her down by holding her hands behind her back.

Blue Beetle was about to attack both Artemis and Tommy but a familiar voice ordered him to stand down.

"This battle is over." Kaldur announced. Nightingale noticed the grey duffel bag and thought the worst.

"I don't think so traitor!" Blue yelled, aiming both of his weaponized arms toward the Atlantean.

"Then rethink Beetle," Kaldur said, placing the duffel bag down. Nightingale was pulled up harshly and her wrists were held behind her back tightly. Nightingale growled and tried pulling at her restraints. But the resounding thunk stopped her and confirmed her fears.

"This is the same type of bomb that obliterated Malina Island. I am holding down the dead man switch. If my thumb comes off this button, _for any reason_, Mount Justice falls." Kaldur threatened. Nightingale looked up to Blue and they exchanged looks, he seemed to be arguing with the Scarab.

"Stop moving you!" Tommy barked. Nightingale glared at Kaldur and twisted her body to the left and pulled outward, just loosening Tommy's hands. She was about to kick the man but she felt an electrifying pain course through her.

Nightingale screamed and fell to her knees in pain, the familiar pain going through her body. She looked over to Kaldur and saw him pressing the button to her collar.

"_Señorita_!" she heard faintly. Then Blue began to come down from above slowly, his weapons returned to hands. "We're standing down." he said as he held his hands up.

Tommy placed the collar around his neck and the pain Nightingale was feeling stopped abruptly.

"Wise choice." Kaldur commented. There was a slight chill and Icicle Jr. slid down.

"I'm fine by the way." the ice villain said with displeasure.

"Good." Kaldur said, "Escort Impulse, Beetle and Beast Boy to the flyer."

"What about these three?" Artemis questioned her hands on her hips. Conner was still knocked out and Nightwing was on his knees, attempting to breath normally again.

"As hostages here they have value. But Nightwing and Nightingale are ordinary humans, Superboy a human-Kryptonian hybrid clone. Neither category is of any interest to our Partner." Kaldur said dismissively.

"Aqualad you will regret this!" Nightwing yelled as he stood fully. Nightingale let out a pained groan and looked up weakly. Kaldur walked over to Nightwing calmly, but gave him a heavy handed punch to his stomach.

"I believe I have outgrown the name Aqualad." Kaldur told him as he walked away, leaving Nightwing doubled in pain. "As well as anything resembling regret."

"I will leave the bomb with you as a souvenir. Oh and the dead man switch has a five mile range. Do not pursue."

Nightwing took in deep breaths and helped Nightingale stand. Nightingale smacked his hands away and glared.

"_This is a part of the plan right? Three more_?" Nightingale mouthed. Nightwing looked away and flashed a blue drive quickly before tucking it away. He turned to Superboy and attempted to wake him up. When he turned back around, Nightingale was gone but her collar was there in her place.

_'Nightingale don't do it!'_ Nightwing thought hurriedly.

Nightingale had pursued Kaldur. He lied about the switch, and Nightingale knew this because as he spoke about the switch, his gills twitched. That was something she noticed over the years. She took great care as to hide this fact from everyone else as well as everyone's tells. Like Nightwing's right hand twitch, Robin's eyebrow twitch, even though it was hardly visible, Superboy always fixed his gloves after he said a lie but before that, he scratched the back of his head.

All of those little tells were hidden away and she was certain they weren't aware of them. Though she had told Nightwing's about his own tell, she didn't say as to where said tell was.

She silently followed behind them, taking care to stay a certain distance away as so Artemis wouldn't notice her. Blue was being pushed by Icicle Jr., Nightingale was about to attack the ice villain with a bomb but Blue attacked first, knocking away both Artemis and Junior with maces. He then turned his sonic cannon on Kaldur, pushing the undercover agent back. Kaldur was knocked against the rocks and the fake switch fell from his grasp.

"No!" Blue yelled. Nightingale came out from her hiding and called out to him.

"It's a fake!" she said, sprinting up to him. He looked up to the Mount and saw that it didn't explode.

"You were right! It was a bluff. Get him!" Blue said, Nightingale knew he was speaking to the Scarab. Nightingale smirked to herself and extended her bo staff, prepared to back up her teammate. Blue went to attack with the mace but Kaldur shocked the Hispanic with his powers.

"Beetle!" Nightingale exclaimed. She turned around and moved out of the way from Artemis, who would've shot sedatives at her, but they struck Blue, knocking him out.

Nightingale used her staff to knock the shooter from Artemis's grasp, and then ducked as Artemis's leg swung around to kick her. Nightingale gritted her teeth and struck the ebony with her staff in her side before bringing up the other side to hit Artemis in her chin. Nightingale ended her series of attacks by giving Artemis her hardest kick to her stomach. That finally knocked Artemis away.

A hand grabbed her by her shoulder and its partner gripped her throat, electricity ran through her. Nightingale screamed in pain, but then silenced her screams by gritting her teeth. Fighting through the pain, Nightingale grabbed Kaldur's wrist and swung her leg up to wrap around his arm while her other foot kicked him in the face.

The brunet leader fell to the ground but she quickly stood up again, new adrenaline coursed through her as quickly as the electricity did. She would've attacked again, but a heavy hand struck her on the back of her head. Blackness filled her eyes and Nightingale felt familiar warmth consume her. Warmth she hasn't felt for years.

"This one's a toughie! Got's a whole lotta guts too." Tommy said, cracking his knuckles. Kaldur stood with a look of mild surprise taking over his features.

"I was not certain that would work, but it seems Beetle is indeed vulnerable to mystic energy and sedatives. Bring him aboard." Kaldur ordered. Icicle Jr pointed over to the unconscious Nightingale.

"And her? She didn't seem to be too fazed by your powers." Icicle said with a bored look.

Kaldur looked over to her as well and then walked to her. He brushed back her hair and saw a forming bruise around her throat.

"She seems to have built up a low resistance to mystical energy. Nightingale has been forced to undergo such attacks before, but no human should be immune to this kind of energy." Kaldur said thoughtfully. He quickly checked her pulse and found it to be present. It was strong, but Kaldur knew she would be unconscious for a long time.

"Bring her along as well. I'm sure the Light will appreciate something to pass their time." Kaldur said. Junior and Tommy grinned toward each other and the bigger Terror lifted Nightingale effortlessly. They began to walk to the plane, leaving the Mount behind them.

At the end of the day, everyone lies. No matter what, no matter for what reason, it's still lying. Either way, someone ends up hurt. All that matters is if it's physically or emotionally.


	10. Before the Dawn

Hall of Justice

March 31, 7:40 EDT

Young Justice was sitting in the library and were scattered about, everyone was silent. A pin dropping would've been loud compared to the silence.

Nightwing went off about an hour ago and Nightingale took it upon herself to speak to the team. She stood from her seat and walked to the center table, her footsteps were soft and the only thing that was heard was the _A_ around her neck as it moved about on the golden chain.

"Everyone, bring it in." she announced, placing her hands on the wooden table. No one moved, they only shared unsure glances as to who should stand first.

"I said: Bring. It. In!" Nightingale said louder and firmer, slamming her palm against the table. One by one, the heroes began to walk toward the table and stood around it and their leader.

Once everyone was gathered, Nightingale nodded approvingly. She rubbed the front of her neck and cleared her throat. Looking around to her team, she saw what they were thinking.

"I understand that the past weeks or so have been very...Eventful and I would even go as far as to say traumatizing for some of us here." Nightingale began as she looked around to them, her voice was softer but it still held its authority. "We've dealt with kidnappings, explosions, and...The loss of a friend and former team mate."

She saw Conner grip his fist and gave him a look saying to calm down. His fist unclenched and he thrust it into his pocket.

"But in all my years of being a hero, of seeing the many people whose come and gone, I understand how everyone must be feeling right now. '_We can't let this stop us from our objective to stop whatever the Light has planned for Earth'_ is something that Batman or Nightwing would say. But I'm not my mentor and I'm not my co-leader, so I'll say this: I'm just relieved that everyone from this team is here with me right now. No serious injuries, no casualties. Just here, alive and breathing."

"I understand that Mount Justice held some importance to some of us and has currently displaced some of our team."

Megan hadn't looked up from looking at the table and Garfield tried to get his sister to pay attention to their leaders words. Whatever happened between her and Aqualad really had his sister depressed and out of her right mind. He was starting to worry.

"As of right now, we have no immediate plans for our base. But I do have some arrangements made as for our members who were staying within the mount. Megan," Nightingale began, looking over to the green skinned girl. The auburn didn't respond.

"Megan!" Nightingale called, tapping her finger against the table. The auburn instantly looked up and blinked twice. "Yeah?"

"Your uncle did ask you to water the plants at his apartment right? Perhaps you and Beasty B can stay there until something permanent is configured. As for Lagaan, you will stay in Atlantis."

The Atlantean nodded and Megan silently agreed as well. Nightingale frowned and made a mental note to speak to Megan right away after her announcement.

"And Conner, I'll call in a favor and get you a place to stay until everything is sorted out."

Conner folded his arms and said "Okay."

She looked to Garfield, Bart, Megan, Lagaan, and Jaime. They looked back at her and she clapped her hands together.

"I'll need to speak to those who were taken hostage as well as Megan." she said after a few seconds. The four boys shared confused glances and they shrugged. Nightingale decided to end this little 'pep-talk' on a good note.

"I understand that some of you think I'm...a cabrona to put it in lighter terms, but I do it because I've seen and been through so many things that I would never wish upon anyone on this team." Nightingale said sincerely.

"Not even me Nightingale?" Lagaan said with a mild chuckle. Nightingale laughed a bit and as did everyone else.

"Not even you Lagaan." Nightingale laughed. "I've told you that this team is a family. And it is. I care about you guys too much because your apart of my team. I may be a cabrona as some say but it's called tough love for a reason .I hate seeing my team in pain; physically, emotionally and mentally."

The team nodded as they took in the information. Karen felt bad because she had called Nightingale a _'hard-ass'_ once, but after hearing this, she would have to rethink her impression.

"But don't take my words as a sign that anyone can take advantage of me. I will stress the fact that I am NOT a pushover, go ask Nightwing." Nightingale said, she folded her arms and returned to her cold and harsh demeanor.

Barbara and Tim shared a silent snicker. Their old Nightingale was back.

Nightingale looked around and nodded approvingly." As for the final thing; if anyone needs to talk, both Nightwing and myself are always available to speak to. No one should have to withhold their emotions. That's it, everyone dismissed."

The team said their goodbyes, Bart hugged Nightingale and Conner clapped her back. Nightwing entered the room after everyone had left. He was silently watching her speech from the doorway and knew that Nightingale noticed him.

"Good job on that speech, the team really needed that." Nightwing commented. Nightingale ignored him as she gathered a few stray papers; some of them were drawings she asked the team to make of however they were feeling at that moment.

"You can't ignore me forever Gale." Nightwing said, his brow furrowed. Nightingale let out a snort and shot him a glare.

"I can try can't I?" Nightingale snapped. She looked toward the ceiling. "Computer, secure the room."

"_Room secure."_

"You really think I'm ready to forgive you? Are you that dense? After what you did-No, after what you hide from me?"

Nightwing sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Nightingale-"

"Shut up! I don't want to hear you talk about it or try to justify it! I'm pissed off at you because you put everyone at risk!"

"Nightingale!" Nightwing yelled. Nightingale didn't flinch or seemed fazed through her mask. "Fighting isn't going to help us!"

"You need help with your way of thinking!" Nightingale replied, putting the papers in a stack and setting it down on the table calmly even though she was ready to kill her brother.

"And like you're one to talk?" Nightwing retorted. Nightingale snapped. She took two, calm steps toward her brother before she lunged at him. Nightwing was caught off guard and was tackled against the blue carpet.

He grabbed her wrists, pushed her up and kicked her off. Nightingale flipped in the air and threw a batarang at the ebony, which he deflected by using his eskrima sticks. Nightingale extended her bo staff and swung it toward Nightwing, who jumped over his sister and attempted to attack her from behind but she caught this and landed a precise kick against his already bruised jaw.

He staggered, losing his sticks in the process. White exploded in front of his eyes when Nightingale kicked him and he just barely managed to clear his head in time to do a somersault to get away. As he looked back up, Nightingale was gone.

Nightwing took careful steps and pressed a hand to his forehead. A throbbing headache was going to be the death of him, literally.

_Behind! _He thought quickly.

Nightwing turned around and grabbed Nightingale by her arm to throw her over his shoulder.

_'Go ahead bro; you'll be in big trouble when I land.'_ Nightingale thought quickly as her feet left the ground. She grabbed onto his shoulder in the process of being flipped and brought him down with her. Nightingale turned over so her body was over top of Nightwing's and pushed him into the ground.

He fell with a grunt and tried to flip their positions but Nightingale had a vise grip on his arm. She pulled it behind his back painfully and put her other hand to his shoulder, readying herself to break his arm if he moved.

"You. Lose." Nightingale growled into his ear. Nightwing fought against his sister but she gave a warning pluck to his head. "Fight me again and I'll break it." Nightingale hissed.

"Damn it," Nightwing said. How did she manage to beat him? Nightingale truly wasn't the same girl from five years ago. Midknight from five years ago wouldn't be doing this, at least not threatening to break his arm and possibly kill him.

Nightingale looked down on him and she sighed, then released his arm and stood up. She rolled her shoulders back and held out her gloved hand. Nightwing looked up to her hesitantly and eyed her hand.

"Come on," Nightingale said. Nightwing grabbed her hand and Nightingale pulled back, bringing Nightwing to stand. Nightingale then went and sat in one of the seats.

"I just can't stand you right now. I still can't get over the fact that you lied to me..."Nightingale admitted after a few moments of tense silence. "I thought we told each other everything. It'd be a lot easier to have been told all of this and it would've saved a lot of heart break too."

Nightwing saw this as Nightingale's final attack: the emotional assault. He messed up his hair and gently peeled away at his mask, Nightingale had done the same during those tense moments and was now fiddling with the domino cover between gloved hands.

"Anna B, I'm really sorry about this. About everything." Dick began; he walked over to her and sat cross legged in front of her. "I was hesitant to bring you in on this because I didn't know who you would respond."

Annabeth twirled pieces of brown hair between her fingers and threw the mask at the ground.

"You still should've told me about it either way." Annabeth mumbled, her fingers had moved to the necklace she wore. Dick remembered that she always played with her necklace whenever she was trying to distract herself.

They remained silent for a few minutes, allowing Annabeth's words to hang in the air.

There was a quick sniff. Dark blue eyes darted up to see Annabeth with tears flowing from her eyes. Dick stood up quickly and went over to her. The taller ebony took his sister into his arms and held her tight even when she fought to get out of his arms.

Annabeth managed to free one arm and was about to strike her brother when something sharp found its way into her skin. Her breath hitched and she saw the clear tube of a syringe, a sliver of the silver needle poked out from her stomach.

Her vision was getting blurry and her mind was fuzzy. She felt her body become heavier as her knees gave out.

"What did you...do..?" Annabeth wondered with slurred words as she passed out, falling limp against her brother. Dick held her up and pulled out the syringe, tossing it on the table.

"Sorry Annabeth, I can't have you hitting me again. Even though you'll do it in the morning." Dick said softly. He set her down on the ground for a moment to replace her mask, put on his own and then lifted the Martha Wayne Foundation President into his arms and going to the zeta-beam.

'_At the end of the day, some things are never resolved as we hope.' _Dick thought sadly as they walked through the zeta beam.

_Recognized: Nightingale B00_

_Recognized: Nightwing B01_


	11. Darkest 9 point 5

Hello everyone! This is the first in between I'm uploading and it's a little bit of what happens between the time of Darkest and Before the Dawn. I am currently working on one for Before the Dawn and it should be up within the next two weeks or so, high school has been crazy and I've been getting tests non stop. I'm really trying to update as fast as I can, so yeah that 's basically it. Enjoy the Chapter!

- BA58

* * *

Atlantic Ocean

March 25, 10:00 EDT

_'Where...am I?'_

Nightingale groaned and pushed up on her forearms; she blinked the haze away and found her entire body to be sore

_'I feel like I've gone through one of Batman's 24 hour training. When was the last time I've gone through one of those...?'_

Masked eyes squinted to get a better view of the area around her. The floor was cool, it was dark besides a small red light. Nightingale stood and managed to walk over to the gated door before her. She looked around and saw that she was in a ships brig.

There were other people here with her, Nightingale sensed. She looked on the ground and saw green skin and a white suit. Then beside them in the next holding cell was a black and blue armored hero.

_'Blue, Beast Boy, and Impulse!'_ Nightingale thought with mild relief.

"BB! Impulse wake up!" Nightingale said hurriedly, keeping her voice low. There were soft grunts and she saw their bodies shifting.

"Where are we? Why are you here Gale?" Beast Boy asked softly, rubbing his eyes.

"I was trying to help you the three of you." Nightingale admitted, clutching the bars tighter. "Are you two okay?"

"Yeah." Beast Boy mumbled. Impulse tried vibrating through the collar and Nightingale rolled her eyes behind the mask.

"Impulse, stop trying to faze through the collar. It's in inhibitor collar; it turns off the powers of Meta humans." Nightingale told him with a sigh. Impulse pouted and let out a huff.

"BB, try to wake up Blue. He could help us." Nightingale told the Changeling. Beast Boy nodded and walked over to the wall then slipped his tail out to brush against his face. They got no response.

"He's not waking up Gale." Beast Boy said, fear ran through his eyes and Nightingale reached out a hand to him, as if to calm him.

"Don't worry, he'll be fine. He was shot with sedatives, heavy ones it seems. Beetle's armor can disable the inhibitor collars, so they had to pick a more natural solution to keeping him under control." Nightingale reassured in a soft voice, replacing her hand on the bars. She looked on the wall beside their holding cells and saw a security pad.

"I have a plan." Nightingale said as she pulled out a USB cord from her glove. She looked back to the green skinned hero. "But I need you to be calm, can you do that BB?"

"Yeah, what do you need me to do?" Beast Boy asked, his eyes showed slight confusion.

Nightingale tested how far her arm could go through the bars. Practically her entire arm.

_'I guess not having visible muscles is a good thing.'_ Nightingale thought to herself. She looked back to Beast Boy and Impulse.

"You still have your sensitive hearing, Beasty B. The only thing is that you can't shift." Nightingale began with a soft smile. "So you need to be on the lookout. Tell me when you hear footsteps approaching us okay? I can't let them know that I'm hacking this."

"Okay, do your thing Gale!" Beast Boy said with a grin. He pressed his ear to the ground and made Impulse stay completely still, which was something that was not really hard to do when their lives were possibly on the line.

Nightingale reached out her arm and stretched it to the keypad. The brunet just barely managed to put in a small wireless receiver in the USB port at the bottom of the pad when Beast Boy let out a quiet alert.

"Pull back!" Beast Boy said softly. Nightingale pulled her arm back quickly, just hitting her elbow on the metal. She hissed and fixed her glove back to normal just as the heavy metal door was opening.

Kaldur stepped in with two Manta men, Nightingale glared and gripped the bars tighter.

"You're awake? I hadn't expected you to arise for another day." Kaldur commented uninterestedly. Nightingale went to bit back a retort but her throat was dry and she went into a coughing fit.

_'All of the direct electricity.'_ Nightingale thought bitterly.

A small door opened and one of the Manta men placed a glass of water. Nightingale picked it up and examined it before looking back to Kaldur suspiciously.

"I thought you weren't supposed to feed your captives. Won't Daddy Manta get upset?" Nightingale challenged, glaring at the former hero.

"You have purpose here, or rather to a member of the Light, so killing you would be a problem." Kaldur answered. Nightingale was looking toward his gills, seeing if they would twitch.

"Is that so? So this water is safe to drink?" Nightingale asked cautiously, raising the glass slightly. Kaldur rolled his eyes, his gills didn't twitch. The water really was safe to drink.

"Yes, why would I poison you?"

"Well you killed Artemis so I thought you wanted to kill me too." Nightingale answered nonchalantly as she went to take a drink. She lowered the glass from her lips and looked to Kaldur as she did. Suddenly she spat the water at the Atlantean.

"I hope that was as refreshing for you as it was for me." Nightingale said with a smile. Kaldur narrowed his eyes and wiped the water from his face calmly.

He turned sideways and pointed a small remote to Beast Boy and Impulse.

"You may think that, but I think these two will answer that question for you." Kaldur said with a glare, he pressed the button. Impulse and Beast Boy began yelling in pain, writhing on the ground as the collars filled them with pain.

"Stop it!" Nightingale yelled, she gritted her teeth and slammed her palm against the bars. "Kaldur stop it! Leave them alone! Leave them out of it!"

Kaldur ignored her and continued. Nightingale gritted her teeth and slammed her fist into the bars in anger. Watching the two younger teens in pain like that and not being able to help made her feel as though she was failing as a leader and a role model.

Finally, Nightingale reached out and grabbed his wrist then yanked him toward her, ready to slam his face against the bars but the Manta men that accompanied Kaldur grabbed her arm and separated the two. One of the men shocked her with an electrified staff and she cried out in pain, falling to her knees and gripping her side.

Impulse and Beast Boy were still screaming and Nightingale knew that it had to stop or else they wouldn't last for much longer.

"Stop it." Nightingale said softly. She lifted her head as she stood slowly and gave Kaldur her death glare, something she gained from Batman. "That's enough! They have nothing to do with this!"

Kaldur slowly looked back to Nightingale and practically felt her anger radiating off of her in waves. He shrugged his shoulders and complied.

"Very well." Kaldur removed his thumb from the button and the screaming stopped. The only thing that was heard in the quiet room was Impulse's and Beast Boy's soft groans and hisses of pain.

"Are you two okay? BB, Impulse, I'm so sorry." Nightingale said her masked eyes showing worry for her two younger team mates.

"Showing such emotion so openly in front of your enemy, it's a sign of weakness." Kaldur spat. Nightingale glared toward Kaldur and gave him a sharp reply.

"I don't care whether or not you think it's a sign of weakness!" Nightingale snapped. "They're a part of my team and I care about them. And you're so low as to punish them for what I did, where's your honor Kaldur? It looks like you have to hurt people who are smaller than you instead of those who can hold their own in fight against you!"

Kaldur seemed to be taken aback by her words. Nightingale smirked and tapped the side of her mask just as she was brushing back some of her hair. The wireless receiver turned on and copied the codes as Kaldur was putting them into the pad. The bars opened and in stepped Kaldur.

Nightingale didn't back away; she silently dared him to attack. Kaldur took the invitation and swung his arm around to punch her. The brunet hero blocked the attack with her arm and side stepped to the right when he tried to punch her stomach with his left fist. Nightingale ducked his kick but let out a cry of pain when he gripped her by a fistful of hair and slammed her into the wall, his hand to her throat.

"It looks like you can fight me after all." Nightingale scoffed with a smirk. Kaldur narrowed his eyes and tightened his hold just slightly. Nightingale coughed, her hands went to grasp his wrist to loosen his grip.

"Do not think I am still that same Kaldur. As you said before, people change." Kaldur said lowly, his face was mere inches from hers.

Nightingale whispered something, making it just so the two of them could hear it. He released her suddenly and left the brig without another word, the Manta men closed the gates to her cell and left behind their leader.

"What did you say to him?" Impulse asked weakly. Nightingale rubbed her neck.

"I said go to Hell." Nightingale replied, she took a seat on the floor and picked up the glass of spilled water.

_'I should've said I know you're lying. But that would've side tracked him and possibly do some damage for all of us.' _Nightingale thought. She felt her eyelids grow heavy and passed out. She heard the faint exclamations of Beast Boy and Impulse but then the warmth consumed her completely.


	12. The Anniversary

Before the Dawn 10.5: The Anniversary

"Madam, are you awake?"

The morning's rays invaded Annabeth's sleep and she covered her eyes with her arm.

"Close the curtains Alf. It's giving me a head ache." Annabeth said softly, she pulled the covers over her head, stretched out then threw the covers back again and sat up as the trusty butler closed the curtains.

"What time is it? What happened to me?" Annabeth asked, reaching for her cellphone to check the time. When she couldn't find that, she looked at the table clock.

_1:35 PM April 1, 2016_

"Master Richard brought you home last night, saying you were exhausted from the battle and passed out while in the Hall of Justice." Alfred answered, preparing a cup of tea. He handed her two pills and a small cup of water first.

Annabeth muttered a thank you and downed the medicine with the water. Alfred took the small cup back and Annabeth sat on the edge of her bed, stretching out her arms.

"I do remember being exhausted. Being kidnapped and tortured by aliens is never a fun thing." Annabeth said, taking the cup of tea in her hands and allowing the steam to rise onto her face. She took a sip and rubbed the side of the china.

"But after giving the team a pep talk, everything is black. I don't remember..."Annabeth looked up from the tea and tried to think back.

Alfred frowned slightly and took the china from the girl gently. Annabeth gave a questioning look.

"Perhaps if you were to look on your stomach, the small track made there would better organize your thoughts."

Annabeth raised an eyebrow and raised her shirt just a bit, she saw a small band aid covering and she peeled it away gently. Indeed there was a small cut and the memories flooded back.

"He drugged me, that jerk!" Annabeth said. She stood and grabbed a robe that was hanging by the bed.

"Do you know where he-Wait, what's today's date again?" Annabeth asked again, slipping her arms through her sleeves.

"April first Madam," Alfred answered.

Annabeth's eyes widened slightly. The brunet was about to turn to the door but she doubled over, the chills suddenly came over her and the blue eyed girl felt as though she was going to be sick.

"Madam Annabeth!" Alfred exclaimed as he rushed to her side. He placed his hands on her shoulders and Annabeth covered her mouth with her hand, which was shaking slightly.

"Sorry for the scare. I guess I moved too fast. But I need to go find Dick." Annabeth said, standing uneasily. Alfred stood as well and gave a mild protest.

"But Madam, you're still recovering! As far as I know, you were deprived of kind of food or drink for nearly a week. That's never happened since-"

"I know that Alfred!" Annabeth snapped, turning her head around to face the butler. She looked back to the ground and clenched her fist tightly. "But I'm not going to break the promise I made to Dick. No matter what, I'm spending the rest of the day with him."

Alfred sighed and allowed his Madam to leave the Recovery room within the Batcave. The Recovery room was a secluded room within the Batcave that had five medical beds and was capable of holding a lifesaving surgery within, but thankfully that hasn't been done since the making of that room.

The sunlight was coming through a direct opening that was made naturally. It was simply made a bit wider and stronger, and then window was placed in there.

Annabeth took the elevator up to the main house and exited the hidden elevator, which feel back into place to the bookshelf.

She ran up to his room and opened his door.

"Dick!" Annabeth called. She looked around the room and then closed his door when he wasn't found. She then ran to the end of the hall, made a right and opened the doors to the balcony.

"If I was Dick, where would I go the day of my parent's death anniversary...?"

Annabeth leaned her elbows against the cool stone. She scanned around and saw faint red in the small amount of woods.

"Somewhere high off the ground," Annabeth smiled. She went back into the house and changed into a pair of sweatpants, sneakers, and a pullover hoodie. She grabbed a pair of leather grip gloves then raced to the tree.

As she closed in, the taller ebony was just sitting in a tree with his holocomputer, watching something Annabeth couldn't quite distinguish.

Annabeth pulled the grappling line from the holster on her hip, which she almost forgot to grab while she was running out and fired it toward the branch above the ebony.

She swung up and latched onto the trunk, climbing onto the branch and looking down to the holocomputer.

Dick was wearing his headphones and watching a video from the day his parents died. Someone had recorded the entire thing, including the devastating fall of the Flying Graysons.

Annabeth hung upside down on the branch and tapped him on his head. Dick didn't move, he only removed his headphones and stopped the clip.

"Hey," Annabeth said gently. Dick nodded and leaned back against the trees trunk.

"Hey," Dick replied. Annabeth swung off and landed beside him. The branch shook briefly, but they both knew how sturdy the branch and tree itself was.

They sat in silence, the silence that always came over them whenever they met for the past weeks.

"Is your jaw okay?" Annabeth asked, keeping her eyes on the ground below them. Dick nodded briefly.

"Yeah, just a bit sore. Alfred said that if I get more damage to that side then it'll be broken and beyond prepare." Dick replied, rubbing the jaw softly.

Annabeth nodded.

"It's been ten years huh?" Annabeth asked softly.

Dick nodded and let out a breath of air. "Yeah..."

Silence settled over them. But this time, it wasn't as awkward.

"You know...Your parents would be proud of you right now." Annabeth began, kicking out her legs. Dick sat up straight and nodded briefly.

"I know." he said, his voice was low as he pulled on his hood. Annabeth wrapped her arm around his shoulders and put her head on his shoulder. He shook lightly, biting back his whimpers as he sniffed quickly.

It was always like this, every year. Dick would pick a different tree each anniversary and remain there for the day until the hour of his parent's death. That was the only time he would come down, and it would usually be for dinner.

That was his yearly routine: Wake up early like he had that day, search for a tree to sit in all day, watch old video of him preforming with his family, then he would come down for dinner and skip out on patrols.

"It never gets any easier. I still think about them when I'm fighting." Dick mumbled, "Every time I use one of my tricks to dodge an attack or to launch one, I wonder what my parents think. For them to see their little Circus Prince using what he loved to do to stop crime..."

"Come on little bro," Annabeth said, gripping his shoulder reassuringly. "You know I can't stand to see you like this each year."

Dick remained quiet.

"You don't seem me moping around the anniversary of my dad's death or my moms. And my mom was killed by the Joker, so everyone would expect me to be a wreck each year. I'm still sad, I still cry. But I think that if my dad hadn't died, my mom would've never almost married a jerk and I wouldn't have landed myself in juvie. And if I hadn't done those things, then I would've never got to have met you or dad or Wally or the rest of them. Whenever something bad happens, something good always shows through the smoke and debris."

Dick smiled a bit and nodded.

"Yeah, I guess you're right." he said with a weak smile. Annabeth smiled as well and she kissed his temple, something she always did to reassure him that she would be there for him no matter what happened.

Silence settled again, but this time they just sat there while listening to faint car horns and the birds singing. A breeze passed through them.

"I still feel bad that I lied to you." Dick said after a while. Annabeth sighed and nodded.

"I know you do." Annabeth told him.

"Then why punch me?"

Annabeth snapped her head over to look at him directly.

"Are you really asking that? I'll throw you off this branch!"

Dick chuckled a bit and Annabeth punched his arm softly.

"It's good to know that you won't hate me forever." Dick said to her, blue eyes glancing over to meet equally blue eyes. Annabeth leaned back onto him again and let out a breath.

"My family, my dad really, was never one to hold grudges against those who he held dear to him...I guess that's where I got my caring heart from. Because I'm sure his eyes and his personality aren't the only things I got from him!"

"I'm sure they're not." Dick chuckled. Annabeth smiled up to him and then down to her hands.

"You should meet them. My parents I mean, I'm sure they would like to meet my brother and the person who helped Bruce train me to be who I am today."

Dick nodded. "Yeah," he began as he looked out to the skyline before them. "It'd be really nice to meet them, and in turn you can meet the Flying Graysons."

Annabeth smiled at him.

"Then it's a plan!"

* * *

Authors Note:

Annabeth is older than Dick by two months. Her birthday is October 31 and Dick's is December 1. I didn't make up his birthday; I found it on a comic website when I was searching for it.


	13. Cornered

Taos

April 1, 17:25 MDT

Nightingale was leaning against the wall outside of the conference room and silently waiting for her turn to speak to Black Canary.

It was originally under her impression that she alone would be speaking to those who had been captured, but Nightwing and Black Canary thought otherwise.

Since she herself had also been captured and put under the knife so to speak, they thought it would be better if someone with a clear mind would speak to them.

She nearly stopped Blue from exposing his identity, but was relieved when he stopped himself, though he covered for it awkwardly.

Impulse exited the room and waved to Nightingale, who returned it halfheartedly.

"Nightingale, would you please come in?" Black Canary asked. The brunet nodded and pushed herself off the wall then to the room.

She eyed the camera as she sat down and released a heavy sigh that she was holding in.

"Is the camera really necessary BC?" Nightingale asked, crossing her legs and folding her arms. Black Canary frowned.

"It just feels like I'm in Juvie again. Something I don't really like reliving." Nightingale added in coldly, afterwards she rolled her eyes behind her mask when she saw a flicker of pity.

"I'm sorry Nightingale, you may not like it, but it is necessary." Black Canary offered.

"Yeah, that's what they said about the cuffs too." Nightingale said under her breath. Black Canary sighed and folded her hand on the desk, her blue eyes set clearly.

"Now, Gale, tell me what happened?"

"Don't you already know? I'm sure you received a lot of testimonies." Nightingale snapped again. She stood and rolled her shoulders before sitting back down.

"What's wrong Nightingale? Talk to me," Black Canary asked, offering her hands out. Nightingale looked to her hands before nodded reluctantly.

"I guess I just woke up on the wrong side of the bed." the younger hero said, though her tone of voice lost its anger and attitude. "I really don't want to talk about what happened, it's still a tad fresh."

"But if you tell me, I think I'll be able to help."

Nightingale seemed to be thinking about something and then she began talking.

"Pain. It was just pain. Pain from Kaldur's attack, the tests they put me through...And then Klarion..."Nightingale's voice got softer. Black Canary leaned forward bit.

"What did Klarion do Nightingale?"

"He roughed me up a bit and he said he would've killed me, but the Reach suddenly wanted to run tests on me afterwards." Nightingale shrugged a bit and then licked her lips. "They ran tests on me to see how long I could last under intense pain and how my body reacted to it. I was held in the same room as some of the other kids so I never really got to see the others. The mask I was wearing throughout has some footage of what was going on, the video was a bit limited but the audio wasn't."

Black Canary nodded at the information. "We're going to need that video."

"It might be a bit grainy and sketchy. While I was gathering video, they suddenly started the endurance test and it may have interfered with the feed." Nightingale said. She stood and plucked something from her belt, a small black memory card.

She placed it on the desk and began to walk out when Black Canary called her.

"Are you sure you don't want to talk about Kaldur? Something must've happened between the two of you." the blonde asked, blue eyes showed worry. Nightingale smiled a bit and waved it off.

"No, it's alright. I need to go to the Hall of Justice; I'm helping some of the team gather what was salvaged from the Mount explosion." Nightingale replied, she waved and coolly walked from the conference room. She passed the younger heroes and nodded toward them before she continued on her way.

As she was mounting her motorcycle, she felt a sharp pain in her eyes. She winced and squeezed her eyes shut before blinking again. Then a high pitched ringing pierced her ears. Nightingale yanked off her helmet and checked for any loose wires from the comms in her ear.

"What the...?" She wondered aloud. Nightingale went to put the receiver back in her ear, but when the small device neared her ear, the high pitched ringing returned. Nightingale narrowed her eyes and put the device in the small case on her belt where her other small tech gadgets were. She pulled on the black helmet and sped off toward the Hall of Justice.

* * *

Nightingale made it there in impressive time; she entered through the back entrance. She typed in her code and removed her glove for the handprint.

"_Nightingale B00 AW2: Confirmed._" read the voice. The garage slid open and she slowly drove her motorcycle in, and then shut off the engine. She walked up the short flight of stairs to the library where the others were.

"Hey Gale." Mal greeted, waving to the brunet before turning to Karen. Nightingale waved in return and looked back to the others.

"Hey Nightingale!" Zatanna greeted with a smile. She went up to the fellow hero and gave her a hug. Nightingale smiled a bit and hugged her back. She was glad that she and Zatanna were still close, even after the break up with her brother. The two had broken up on good terms, leaving Nightingale to stay good friends with the ebony.

"Where have you been?" Zatanna asked with a smile. Nightingale knew that Zatanna wasn't being serious in her question but she answered anyway.

"Home recovering mostly." she answered. "Plus I've been trying to regain our records from Mount Justice, the old case files and the works."

"Shouldn't Nightwing be doing that?" Zatanna asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah but I decided to give him a bit of a break."

"Don't give him too many of those, you know how he gets if you let him off easy." Zatanna warned playfully, poking her arm. The two girls laughed and she waved it off.

"Oh no, we may be best friends but there is _no way_ I'm going to let him sit back while I do all the work!" Nightingale said. Zatanna laughed and walked off to speak to Captain Marvel. Nightingale pulled up her computer from her glove and began shifting the records from the Watch Tower to the Hall of Justice.

A little bit later, she stopped and looked to the front of the Hall. Superboy came up to her and asked if she was okay.

"I'm fine," she replied, narrowing her eyes at the entrance. "I just thought I heard something."

"I don't hear anything." he said after looking around. Nightingale told him she was probably hearing things and he agreed, going back to search through his belongings. Nightingale then closed what she was doing and ran toward the front of the hall.

As she went outside she looked around.

"I know someone's here." she called out. A bot like thing suddenly appeared before her. Nightingale jumped back and was prepared to call out but the bot then spoke.

"My name is L-Ron and my master is in search of a worthy opponent!" the bot said. Nightingale raised an eyebrow and smirked.

"And does your said master have a name? I'd like to know the names of the creep I'm going to take down." Nightingale said with a grin. She wanted someone to take her anger out on and this seemed like the perfect guy.

"Why how wonderful you asked, measly human!" L-Ron said happily. "For he is the great Despero: the undefeated champion of 92 Star Systems!"

Despero suddenly appeared before Nightingale and she gasped.

"Okay, maybe this won't be as easy as I originally thought." Nightingale said to herself quickly. She balled her fist and went in for the attack. She ran at him and dodged his hand as it went to strike her. Nightingale slid underneath him and attempted to kick his legs out from under him.

When that had no effect, she felt her ankles being gripped up tightly and she was suspended into the air, hanging upside down.

"This human girl is nothing but a mere waste of time! She is not worthy of your presence master!" L-Ron exclaimed. Nightingale gritted her teeth.

"We'll see who is a waste of time." She said, throwing a smoke bomb in Despero's eyes. The alien roared and dropped her, furiously rubbing at his eyes.

"Foul! This human plays dirty master!"

"All is fair in love and war!" Nightingale said, throwing a batarang at the alien. It deflected off his armor and landed beside her foot. She was gripped up by her hair and throat.

"Kill her master! There are certainly more worthy opponents in this great hall, you see!" Despero glanced over at the hall and then back to Nightingale. She gasped for breath as his grip tightened; her masked eyes looked around frantically for any weak spots.

_'So much for being mouthy, way to go Anna B!'_ she scolded herself mentally. She saw something on his forehead twitch ever so slightly and she quickly grabbed her bo-staff, it was electrified like Robin's but the voltage was higher than his and slightly longer as well.

Nightingale lifted it up and wacked the electrified end to his third eye, at least she assumed that's was what it was as she saw a sliver of yellow peeking through the purple lid.

He dropped her again and clutched at his eye, roaring in pain. Nightingale wheezed and took in lungful's of fresh air. L-Ron was trying desperately to heal his master and Nightingale was about to take advantage of the opening when she felt something large and heavy work its way into her stomach.

She flew back a few feet and rolled to a stop. The MW Foundation president wheezed and coughed a few times. The ground underneath her shook and she felt a strong blow to her stomach again, as well as some cracks and snaps. She felt her head connect with the concrete and she knew it would be best to play dead for now.

"She was no worthy fighter master! For she had played dirty and wasted valuable minutes you could have spent on much more eligible warriors!" L-Ron continued. Nightingale felt herself floating in and out of consciousness. She rolled over onto her back as the master and servant duo walked off and back to the Hall of Justice.

Despero suddenly disappeared and a red shield came around the Hall of Justice.

Nightingale groaned as she pushed herself up on her knees and reached for her emergency communicator.

"Nightingale to Captain Atom," Nightingale began with a groan and hiss of pain. "There's a situation...At the Hall..."

She faintly heard the League leader's questioning tone before she passed out.

* * *

When Nightingale awakened, she found herself on a gurney being treated. A few military personnel are beside her, guarding her.

"Let me through." she said. The brunet hero checked to see that everything was in place and unbroken, and surprisingly they weren't. They were just as sturdy as just before the fight, but she was certain to have heard a few cracks and snaps just before passing out.

The soldiers are hesitant but Nightingale glared at them.

"Stand down and let me pass!" she ordered, giving them her murderous glare. They hesitantly allowed her to pass and she ran to the Hall.

"What happened?" she asked. Captain Atom looks at her in disbelief.

"I should be asking you the same thing!" he said. He gave her a once over. "When I got here, you were a crimpled mess and now you're running like nothing ever happened!"

"Can we please focus on that later?" she pleaded, not wanting to cause a ruckus with the military within hearing distance. Captain Atom sighed and went back to the matter at hand.

Suddenly a helicopter touched down. The Reach Ambassador and Tseng exited and Nightingale had a bad feeling.

"Perhaps I might be of some help," the alien offered. Nightingale growled at him almost inaudibly and wanted nothing more than to wring out his neck. She noticed Zatanna giving her a look before she looked back to the Ambassador, who placed a small bug looking device on the barrier keeping the small group of heroes trapped inside the demolished Hall of Justice.

The red grid-like barrier flickered before it disappeared. The device then fell back into the Ambassadors hand and he closed his fist around it.

"There, problem solved." he said with a smile as he looked to the other Leaguers. Nightingale noticed his quick glance in her direction. She nudged Captain's ribcage with her elbow.

"Thank you Ambassador," he said reluctantly, narrowing his eyes ever so slightly.

"Such a shame your Hall was destroyed." the Ambassador lamented. "I suppose it's fortunate you still have your other headquarters, the one in orbit above us now. What is it you called that? The Watch Tower?"

"What?!" Secretary Tseng exclaimed. General Eiling's eyes widened behind the Secretary.

"Oh I'm sorry, was that fact not for public consumption?"

Nightingale and Captain Atom exchanged angered looks before turning back to the Ambassador, Secretary Tseng and General Eiling.

One thing they both knew, this was not going to end well.

* * *

After Jaime's information was taken in by the two scientists, the two Leaguers as well as her co-leader, Nightingale stepped up and decided to speak with him alone.

She led him outside and into another private room.

"Jaime, are you sure about this?" Nightingale asked cautiously. "I heard what would happen if the Scarab were to be removed..."

Jaime's eyes widened in surprise.

"How?!"

"Alien translator." Nightingale informed, tapping her holographic computer. "I'm not saying that it shouldn't be removed if that's what the future is, but...I'm just worried about your safety and wellbeing now."

Nightingale's eye showed concern behind the mask and Jaime saw that. He was appreciative of the fact that she worried about his wellbeing, but he would rather risk himself then the fate of the world.

"I'm sorry _Nena_, but this is something that I'm sticking with." Jaime said firmly, crossing his arms tightly. Nightingale placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Okay," she said with a nod. "If you're dead set on this, then I suppose I don't have a say in the matter."

Jaime smiled a bit.

"Thank Gale, that means a lot." he said, rubbing his arm. Nightingale noticed that he had goose bumps and giggled to herself.

"You might want to get your armor back on if you don't have a jacket to cover yourself with." she said as she passed by him. Jaime blushed a bit and his armor quickly covered him once again.

_'At the end of the day,'_ she thought as she walked down the hall. _'You can't always change your teammates' minds.'_

She then thought back to the hall.

"My motorcycle!" she suddenly realized. Then she thought about the hall as a whole.

_'Dad is not going to be happy about this...'_she sighed mentally, walking out the front doors. There was a bark and she looked around, it sounded close but couldn't see any dog.

Then, around the corner, she saw a small stray dog walking. That's when she realized how small the dog was and how far it was from her.

The dog was no bigger than a Chihuahua and it was more than six blocks away.


	14. Revelations

Revelations

_Nightingale lifted her head to find herself in a darkened room, hands bound painfully above her head by faintly glowing restraints. A dull pain buzzed from her wrists to her toes, making her body tremble and go numb._

_"Looks like little Birdie is awake!"_

_Nightingale's eyes widened behind her mask as the terrifyingly familiar voice echoed in her ears. Her eyes adjusted to the darkness and she narrowed her eyes, the whites of her mask zoomed in and illuminated the darkness surrounding her using night vision._

_Klarion's face appeared and Nightingale gasped, fear paralyzed her body. Those red eyes pierced her and Nightingale found herself staring at him unwillingly._

_"Good to see you again Knighty! Or should I say, Nightingale." Klarion grinned evilly. "Doesn't this remind you of our lovely week together?"_

_Memories flooded her mind as the trembling worsened. Tears welled and she blinked them away, refusing to let her deeply buried trauma to return and break her resolve._

_Klarion saw, felt, and could even taste the fear radiating off of his long lost plaything. His grin widened as he thought of new ways to torture his toy, but he had to hand it to her, she matured._

_She looked a lot harder to break and seemed to be a lot better at defending herself. But opening a few old scars would cause her to crack and break in no time!_

_Like his little..._Parting gift_._

_The ebony sorcerer trailed his polished nail down her stomach, loving the trembles he felt and relishing in the sound of her leather clad hands clench tightly, and then he trailed across to her left hip where the scar was._

_Nightingale gritted her teeth as her hip was set aflame, it burned and sent angry pain throughout her body. She looked down a bit to see the jagged K shining through her black body suit and tights._

_Klarion's grin made her stomach twist and tighten in disgust._

_"What do you want?" Nightingale hissed through gritted teeth. The pain intensified as if Klarion stabbed her hip as he did five years ago. Klarion shrugged and drew patterns on her stomach lazily. He pouted thoughtfully._

_"I wanted to finish what Daddy Bat's interrupted years ago but our Partner needs you." Klarion sighed. Nightingale's eyes widened._

'What does their Partner need with me?_'_

_"What do they want with me and the others?" Nightingale asked pulling herself up by her restraints to remove herself from Klarion's finger. Klarion let out an irritated huff and folded his arms like a child who was denied a piece of candy._

_"They want to extract meta-genes or whatever from you and the other hero lackeys." Klarion said with a bored tone, he waved his hand dismissively. "But the only bad thing is that it'll kill you if they actually try it. At least the test they _want_ to do will."_

_"Why do they want the meta-gene in the first place?" Nightingale demanded with a glare. Klarion laughed and smacked her cheek lightly with the back of his hand._

_"I don't know. You're not going to live to find out anyway. But from the magical grapevine, I hear that they're really interested with the Blue Beetle of yours." Klarion smirked. Nightingale narrowed her eyes and pulled at the red restraints again in anger._

_"Were you and the rest of the Light working with your Partner five years ago when Savage put the entire Justice League under his control?"_

_"Maybe," Klarion teased. Nightingale kicked out her leg, but it was slammed back against the wall she was pinned to by a red line of rope. The magician took a step back and continued._

_"All of that was in preparation for what's to come Anna B. But in simpler terms, yes." Klarion said as he checked his nails, buffing them on his lapels._

_'_He's telling me all of this information willingly...What is he planning for me...?_' Nightingale thought. She tried to reach out to Miss Martian but knew it was pointless; Nightingale was most likely out of her telepathic range._

_"So this invasion was being thought of years ago!" Nightingale concluded, narrowing her eyes accusingly. Klarion laughed and clapped his hands approvingly._

_"Took you long enough! But not all great plans are thought of in a split second, they take time and preparation!" Klarion exclaimed, throwing his arms up with a grin. "But you would know all about that, wouldn't you Miss Wayne?"_

_Nightingale spat at him for using her name and prepared herself for his attack but the sound of a heavy door opening stopped the magician in his tracks._

_"Fool! How dare you speak to the captive? You can play with the hero later." Savage's voice rumbled angrily. He cross the room in three long strides and snapped at Klarion to take Nightingale down. But before the brunet hero could even rub her wrists, she was struck heavily in the back of her neck._

_"Take her to our Partner." Savage ordered. Hands grabbed Nightingale's arms and she was thrown into a pod. The last thing the hero saw was Savage and Klarion's red tinted face and Klarion's sick smirk._

_Nightingale allowed the dull warmth to consume her and she passed out._

April 3, 2016 15:29 EDT

Annabeth was standing before her full length mirror; her singlet was upraised so she could see the jagged K engraved on her hip. She sighed and leaned her head against the cool glass, blue eyes slid shut. Then suddenly her eyes snapped open and she pulled her fist back, and then hurled it at the mirror. The glass cracked and shattered, falling onto the hardwood flooring. Annabeth gritted her teeth sharply and pulled her fist back.

There was no blood, no scratches to indicate what just happened, not even the slightest bit of pain. Her eyes widened and she yelled.

"Alfred!"

The sound of distant but quickly approaching footsteps came to her ears and the door to her room was opened, Alfred stood in the door was with a look of pure worry and concern.

"Madam is everything alright? I heard your scream." Alfred asked, seeing the shattered glass. His aged but still clear eyes scanned over his Madam, but didn't find one trace of blood or injury.

"Yes, everything's fine." she said, but Alfred knew that those words didn't mean what they were supposed to. "And that's what's wrong! I punched the glass but I'm not scratched or bleeding!"

"You do have endurance Madam. Do you not remember the hole you punched in the wall a few years before?" Alfred asked, bending down to help the brunet stand. Annabeth shook her head.

"No, but Alfie this is different!" she exclaimed. She sighed and sat down on the ottoman that was beside the mirror. "Listen, I think there's something wrong with me."

Alfred shook his head in disbelief. But he let his young Madam continue nonetheless.

"After the kidnapping, things have begun to change. I can see better than usual, my hearing is ten times my average hearing and my endurance has clearly skyrocketed." Annabeth told him. Alfred began to question the information in his head.

"I told you what the Reach did. They were trying to harvest the meta-gene…But instead of harvesting it with me, I think I may have gotten some to a certain degree." Annabeth whispered. Alfred took her by the hands and pulled her up.

"Well we'll just have to test that theory now won't we Madam?" Alfred asked. They walked down to the Batcave and Alfred set up a series of tests for her.

The first test was hearing. He played a series of sounds, some a bit high pitched that humans wouldn't be normally able to hear and those that are a bit low that humans can't hear either. Annabeth heard all of it as if they were played at the same volume.

Next was the vision test. Perfect score, even on the smallest of pictures that the human eye can't distinguish. Meaning the microscopic level.

He went off to a table and began comparing the results of the new test with the most recent test she had taken just before the kidnapping, which was two weeks before said incident.

"Madam," he began, the papers he held in his hands shifted together as he raised them. "I believe we need to call the Justice League and Master Richard, they may need to see this."

Annabeth's eyes widened as she could clearly see the data from the tests on the papers.

Philadelphia

April 3 2016 16:45 EDT

Annabeth was sitting beside Dick, both had on civilian clothing and sunglasses, Black Canary and Captain Atom were seated opposite to them. Alfred wasn't there, decided to stay back in the Batcave and relay the information via a webcam. Of course his face was shadowed and his voice was modified.

Annabeth had basically laid down the strange things that have been happening since her rescue and Alfred supplied the data.

"Wait just a minute." Captain said, waving his hands and halting the conversation. "You mean to tell me that Nightingale here has developed superhuman abilities?"

"In that sense I suppose so. But she is not completely invincible, like Superman or Superboy. Her hearing was modified a substantial amount as well as her vision, which allow her to hear I would guess even better than Superman. Her eyesight can see down to the microscopic level and her endurance was enhanced by a generous amount as well." Alfred informed, reading off more of the information. "She broke her own wrist and it healed within seconds. What the Reach may have done with her could have its benefits for the Team and the Justice League."

Annabeth cleared her throat, gaining their attention.

"Can we do a test?" she asked. She told them what she wanted and they agreed. She wanted them to take places in different parts of the room and remain completely still, not sound or movement what so ever.

She then stepped outside the room and spoke loudly enough so they could hear her.

"Nightwing is in the top left corner, gripping his hand tightly. Black Canary is in the center of the room, facing the door. Cap your by the monitor, facing the screen and rubbing your fingertips together." she said, then she entered the room.

"Was I right?" she asked. The three people before her exchanged looks and nodded to Annabeth.

"Whatever it is that the Reach did to you, it may just be helpful to us in return." Captain said with a heavy sigh. Annabeth raised an eyebrow and folded her arms tightly, glaring at him behind her glasses.

He raised his hands in defense. "You know I didn't mean it in a way that I'm not concerned for you! I am, but for the time being we have to work with what we have and this is an advantage."

"Maybe so, but what if the Reach already knows about her powers? They certainly come looking for Nightingale again." Dick said, placing his arm around her shoulders. "Did you think of that Cap?"

Annabeth shook her head and brushed off Dick's arm, even though it was comforting for the time being.

"I'm so done here." she said. Alfred then saw it his moment to end his feed and Dick threw up his arms with a sigh.

"You just don't get it do you?" he said before running out after his sister. Captain Atom looked back to Black Canary with a questioning look.

"Just give her some time, Nightingale's going through a rough patch." Black Canary said, she patted his shoulder and exited the room.

Captain Atom sighed and ran his hands down his face.

Washington DC

April 3, 2016 14:45 GMT

Annabeth was looking at the demolished Hall of Justice. She sighed deeply and removed her sunglasses. Seeing down to microscopic level wasn't so good after all, she saw the smallest of scratches and decided that it would be best to just leave them alone.

She looked down to her hands and saw that they were shaking slightly. Annabeth gripped them tightly and heard them crack, and then she felt the bones snap. She winced slightly but then felt the small shatters realign themselves. Blue eyes closed and she put her hands in the pockets of her sweats. There was a familiar heartbeat and she glanced to the person at the corner of her eye.

"I'm fine Dick." she said, looking back down to the ground. Dick placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Are you _sure_?" he said, emphasizing the sure. Annabeth smiled a bit and turned to face him. "This can't be easy."

"What isn't easy is lying." She whispered. Dick sighed. "I thought we resolved this?"

"We did, D." she sighed. Dick placed his hands on her head and ruffled her hair with both hands. Annabeth glared and fixed her hair.

"Barbara is going out shopping and wants you to go with her." Dick said affirmatively. Annabeth nodded.

"Okay." she said. Blue eyes spared one last look to the Hall. "Dad's going to be upset when he gets back."

Dick laughed out loud. "Mad? He's going to be furious! Mount Justice _and_ the Hall of Justice destroyed? He's going to have a stroke."

Annabeth laughed a bit. "Yeah, just like that one time he found out that we blew up one part of the Batcave when we were twelve. He was so mad!"

"But he was terrified too you know." Dick added in. Annabeth nodded, she turned back to him and began walking back to the closest zeta beam.

"I know that." she muttered. Dick sighed again, knowing that Annabeth still wasn't going to get happier. "You're thinking about him and the others aren't you?"

"How can I not Dick?" she asked, looking back to him with sadden eyes. "Who knows if they really are getting a fair trial like John said? It's been three months since we last saw them."

Dick placed his hands on her shoulders. "Hey," he said, tipping up her chin with his hand. "They're fine. The Green Lanterns are the police of the galaxy. I'm positive that the Core will ensure that they have a fair trial."

"I know...But I'm still not over my abandonment fears, you know that." Annabeth replied, leaning back on her heels. Dick sighed and pulled her into a hug. Annabeth's abandonment fears were still present, even after all these years...

Dick sighed mentally. He supposed he couldn't blame her and he had the audacity to think that _that _would have completely disappeared.

"Come on, we told you that would NEVER happen again." he said, cradling her head with his hand. Annabeth chuckled a bit.

"So where am I meeting Barbara?" she asked, pulling away from her brother. Dick smiled a bit and tugged her along.

"Gotham's fashion district." he answered.

Back in Gotham, Annabeth's personality had done a complete had to change from Nightingale's 'no tolerance-secretly caring' personality to bubbly and always smiling Annabeth Wayne, the President of Wayne Foundation and the Martha Wayne Foundation and Gotham City's lead trend setter.

Her outfit changed from sweats and a V-neck hooded shirt and scary black sunglasses for sky blue skinny jeans, black heels and a white silky button up that was tucked into the skinny jeans. The sleeves were loosely rolled up to her elbows and she had on much nicer sunglasses, her hair was in its natural curls framing her face. She stopped her car, a sleek silver Audi R8, outside of the cafe. Barbara was sitting at an outside table and Annabeth hummed to herself.

"Even Babs can get out of the dark Batgirl colors and her usual team casual wear." Annabeth laughed, but she commended Barbara on her outfit.

The auburn was wearing the outfit Annabeth had gotten her for her birthday: a pair of light colored, high waist skinny jeans with black flats that had a buckle on top, her blouse was soft navy blue and long-sleeved with golden buttons. Instead of her hair being in a ponytail, it was loose.

Annabeth turned off the car and exited with grace. She rounded and smiled at Barbara, who spotted the car, but Annabeth knew she noticed much earlier. The blue eyed teen removed her sunglasses and gave Barbara a quick hug.

"Hey Bab," she greeted, her bubbly personality making its self-known.

"Anna B! You always make an entrance don't you?" she asked, chuckling slightly. Annabeth rolled her eyes playfully.

"Oh God Babs, give a girl a break! Any who, let's get to the shopping!" Annabeth replied, clapping her hands together quickly. She pushed her sunglasses to the top of her forehead and entered the car swiftly. Barbara followed after her and they drove off.

A few hours and small shopping bags later, they were seated at a small secluded cafe at the end of the shopping district. Its name was Private Eye and it had a certain aura about it that Annabeth couldn't place correctly, but it had a strict rule for paparazzi: No pictures allowed and it was enforced by the two convenient men sitting by the door outside.

Annabeth ordered their specialty Blossom tea and Barbara asked for a Frappé coffee.

"So," Barbara began, leaning onto the table and having a certain glint in her eyes. "What's going on with Wayne Enterprises?"

Annabeth set down her new diamond necklace and shrugged. "The same old things just a different day." the blue eyed teen said as she waved her hand. "I had to decline a deal that was offered to Wayne Tech. A company tried to get ties with us to gain more power in the business world." she said in a lower voice.

Barbara's eyes widened. "Seriously?" she asked.

Annabeth nodded and let out a sigh. "A partnership with Wayne Enterprises boosts your credibility in the world and more people will want to do business. Their proposal wasn't even convincing either."

Annabeth tucked the necklace away in its case and put the black box in the bag before going to hold her chin in her hand. "It's dog eat dog in the world of business. You have to step and use other people for your own personal gain. And I wouldn't expect you to know anything about that."

"And _what _is that supposed to mean?" Barbara said, narrowing her eyes to what Annabeth realized was a glare she often used for intimidation on thugs and the works. But it wasn't going to work on her; she grew up with the man who invented that glare!

"I didn't mean it to sound rude or anything Babs. It's just a world that you can't understand. The business world is much more than you think, Hun." she said, giving her a small smirk. She sipped at her tea and leaned back in her chair.

Barbara scoffed and leaned back in her own chair. There was a moment of tense silence before the auburn spoke up again.

"There is one thing I never realized about you, Anna B."

Annabeth raised her eyes from her tea, an eyebrow quirked in question. "And what would that be, Miss B?"

"You never told me anything about your past." Barbara said, leaning onto the table and crossing her arms. Annabeth was taken aback by this, but she wouldn't allow it to show. She calmly set down her glass and shrugged.

"It's something I never thought I had an obligation to tell you."

"But we're best friends aren't we? I mean, Dick told me his. And I already know about your dads, the whole world does." Barbara continued, twirling her hand around to make a point. "But yours is still a mystery."

Annabeth fiddled with the cups handle. "Let's just say that my past wasn't the nicest out of the three of us."

"Come on Anna B, you have to give me more than that."

"We all have a similarity; Dick, Dad and I." Annabeth finally confessed. "At one point...We all lost our family in the most horrid way possible." she said softly.

Barbara gasped. "Oh my...Annabeth, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have asked." she apologized quickly. Annabeth stood and gathered her bags, which was only three, and took out her wallet.

"I got it," Barbara offered, reaching for her purse. Annabeth smiled at her. "It's the least I can do after being selfish."

"Thank Babs. I don't blame you for being curious, I should've said it and I would've said it at one point or another." Annabeth said, putting her purse back and taking out her car keys. She unlocked it from within the cafe, "Do you need a ride back?"

"No, it's okay. I'll just take a cab to the police district. My dad wants me to have lunch with him anyway." Barbara informed. Annabeth nodded then the two walked out of the cafe, after paying of course.

Annabeth put her bags in the passenger seat and closed the door; she gave Barbara a quick hug.

"Thanks for the girl's day out Babs, I really needed it." Annabeth smiled. The auburn waved it off and returned the gesture.

"It was no problem Anna B. I'll call you when I get to the district." Barbara told her as she entered the Audi. The brunet millionaire rolled down the passenger window, said one final goodbye, a promise for a spa day, then she zoomed off.

As Annabeth speed through a yellow light, she released a sigh as the next light turned red.

"At the end of the day, you have to tell small secrets to conceal the larger ones."

The light turned red and Annabeth drove off toward the manor.


	15. True Colors

Nightingale glanced at Green Beetle. The Martian looked to her and gave her a friendly smile. He approached her with an appropriate pace.

"You are Nightingale, yes?" he asked. Nightingale nodded warily and folded her arms.

"Yes, that would be me." Nightingale replied, her eyes scanned over his features to detect any abnormalities. Green Beetle gave a hand for her to shake; she merely gave him a nod.

"I see you do not completely trust me." Green Beetle said with a mild tone of understanding.

"You suddenly appeared before my team while they were on a mission and I have yet to appropriately distinguish you from Black Beetle." Nightingale said, her eyes narrowed just slightly. "I will decide whether or not you've gained my trust. I will say this: thank you for helping my team."

Green Beetle bowed slightly and walked back toward Blue.

Nightwing called her to go back home and she gathered Blue Beetle and Arsenal. She gave one final thanks to Jonathan and told Superboy to stop by more often. The brunet co-leader brought Nightwing to the side and gave him a look.

After a moment she spoke. "I don't trust him."

"Neither do I." Nightwing replied. Nightingale gave a scoff.

"You _want_ to trust him. I can read you better than you can yourself." Nightingale said softly.

"Stop doing that." He growled.

"Stop being so predictable." she challenged. Nightingale looked over to Superboy who was giving the two leaders a worried look. Robin walked over to him.

"What's up Superboy?" Robin asked. Superboy glanced back at Robin.

"Go tell Nightingale and Nightwing to hurry up. Impulse and Blue are already at the zeta-tube." Superboy replied, nodding his head toward the two leaders. Robin nodded and ran over to them.

"Hey, Superboy said-"

"I heard." Nightingale interrupted. Robin raised a shocked eyebrow. She sighed. "Stop by my apartment and I'll explain. You too Nightwing."

She then got in Jonathan's truck and he drove off when the others entered the back.

* * *

Mainstream Gotham

April 9, 2016 1:30 EDT

After the three siblings changed out of their uniform, they were gathered in the older siblings apartment.

But Tim wouldn't call it an apartment, so he dubbed it the 'Mini Wayne Manor'. It was a maisonette within Mainstream Apartments, the most luxurious apartments within Gotham.

The living room was at least the twice the size of the Manor's living room with an open kitchen to the left. The front wall was made of tall windows that stretched up to the second floor. A black dining table was near the windows and had a white table cloth draped over it with seating for four. Light smoke grey curtains were pulled back from the windows, allowing a beautiful view of Gotham, including the Wayne Enterprises and Wayne Foundation buildings. Outside of the windows, on both the first and second floor were wide balconies. The floor above was open with a walkway wrapping around it, silver waist high bars were set in place.

Annabeth jumped over her couch and stretched out. Tim and Dick sat across from her.

"So spill," Tim said, leaning back against the comfy couch. "What's the reason that you can hear so well?"

"Let's just say the Reach's test on me enhanced my senses to a generous amount. Happy now?" she said, sitting up and cracking her back that had Tim wincing at the style of which she did it. Dick seemed unfazed by it, laughing at the younger's squirming. The second oldest looked back to Annabeth.

"Anyway, back to me not trusting the new Beetle." she said, standing up and walking toward the kitchen.

"He seems friendly." Tim shrugged. Two sets of blue eyes gave him the familiar Bat family look.

"I said he _seemed _friendly! Not that he was!" Tim recovered. Annabeth still rolled her eyes.

"That's the error in your words." Annabeth said, taking out three bottles of water from the refrigerator. "You need to learn to not give someone so much benefit of the doubt."

She threw the two bottles of water toward her brothers. Tim caught it with ease and then something else dawned on him.

"Wait, is Dick the older brother?"

Annabeth laughed loudly and Dick flicked his bottle cap toward her, which she caught her hand with ease.

"Actually I'm the older sibling." Annabeth spoke up, flicking the bottle cap back toward Dick. He missed in his attempt to catch it and it hit him directly in his forehead.

Tim coughed up his water as he laughed at the bright red mark on his brother's forehead. Annabeth laughed as well and Dick gave a sarcastic one.

"Very funny." he said, recapping his drink. Annabeth finished her bottle and tossed it over her shoulder, it landed in the sink perfectly. Tim whistled and Dick rolled his eyes, but he was mildly impressed as well.

"But what are we going to do about Green?" Tim asked again.

Annabeth and Dick exchanged glances. Dick rubbed his neck.

"We'll have to verify his story first before we can even consider calling him an ally."

"It would be a lot easier if we had even one of the Green Lanterns here." Annabeth mumbled. Dick looked at her.

"They're all off world at Rimbor. What can we do? Captain Atom will be just as effective in getting his story verified." Dick reassured. Annabeth rolled her eyes mentally.

"So if his story is verified?" Tim questioned, looking between the two leaders.

"Then I guess we can call him an ally in this fight." Dick replied with a shrug. Annabeth laughed.

"I _still_ won't trust him!"

"Anna B, what is with you and this trust?" Dick asked, snapping his head toward her.

"You _really_ wanna know?" she asked sharply. Dick clicked his tongue and walked off toward the upper level of the home.

"Are you staying over?" Annabeth called, watching him stomp up the silver staircase. He gave a hardly audible _yeah_, opened his door and closed it behind him firmly.

Annabeth let out a deep breath and walked back toward the kitchen. Tim glanced between the room Dick just disappeared into and Annabeth who was taking the bottles to the recycling bin.

"Is everything alright between you and Dick?" Tim asked, leaning on the black marble counter. Annabeth stopped what she was doing and leaned back against the sink.

"We're okay, Tim. Why do you ask?"

"You two are acting differently. Before Artemis' death, you two were in perfect sync. You always finished his thoughts or words and he always predicted your actions and strategies. But now, everything is like...It's like you guys are holding each other on the each of a cliff, waiting to throw the other off." Tim mumbled, picking at his thumb nail. Annabeth could see tears prickling his eyes, but she knew that he wasn't aware of it himself.

"Tim, listen to me." she said, she voice was coaxing and she smiled when he glanced at her. "Your bro and I are perfectly fine. But with everything that's going on with the new Beetle, the Reach and my newly found information, it's a bit stressful and we haven't agreed on an appropriate angle of attack yet."

Tim nodded a bit and continued to play with his nail.

"Can I stay over?"

"Sure T, you still have some clothes in your room." Annabeth told him. He turned to walk toward the steps but Annabeth stopped him after a moment.

"You have the footage right? From your mask, I mean."

Tim 'oh'ed and pulled a small memory card from his pocket. "Here, I didn't know if you wanted it so I didn't bring it up." he said, putting the card in her hand.

"Thanks, good work today. Go get some sleep." she said. Tim nodded, bid her a good night and jogged up the steps and into his guest room. Dick appeared seconds later and slid down the railing, landing silently and walked over to her.

"He's worried about us. I could tell by his heart beat that he was afraid of what I would say." Annabeth said, twirling the memory card in her hand. Dick tucked his hands into the pockets of his jeans.

"What can we do Anna B?" Dick asked. Annabeth sighed and looked out to Gotham's sky line.

"You tell me." She replied. Her mind wandered somewhere else as she did.

At the end of the day, even the greatest of strategists are stumped in the presence of a difficult problem.


	16. The Fix

Gotham

April 10, 2016 10:55 EDT

"You did what?!"

Dick sighed at the tone of his sister's voice. Her hands that slammed on the desk rattled the items on said desk. A picture of the family fell backwards but Annabeth caught it with ease.

"Why would you tell them?" Annabeth asked in a much softer voice. Dick went to Annabeth, who was at the Wayne Foundation building, and decided it was best to tell her what happened instead of Conner or Lagaan telling.

"I had to; there was no other way I could explain it to them. It was either tell Conner and Lagaan the secret or risk Lagaan exposing it and risking Artemis' and Kaldur's cover and possibly their lives in the process. I couldn't risk it, not now." Dick said, falling back onto the leather couch in her office. Annabeth sighed and walked around the front of her desk.

"What did Conner say after you left the room?" she asked, leaning back against the desk. Blue eyes met each other and the younger pair glanced out to the large windows.

"He was upset." Dick said with an exhausted sigh. Annabeth could tell that all of the stress was getting to him. Dick ran a hand down his face. "He said that Megan shattered Kaldur's mind and her capture risks both Artemis' life and her own. It's a possibility as to why she was hesitant to verify Green Beetle's story." he added in softly, thinking to himself.

Annabeth raised an eyebrow. "I would've been there yesterday but I had three different meetings and two presentations." she said in an exaggerated tone.

Dick's wince was visible. "Sorry for making you take on my meetings. But I needed to be there."

Annabeth waved it off. "It's okay, I understand. But back to Green Beetle, what did he say?"

Dick sat up to tell her the information but her phone rang.

She grabbed it from her desk locking drawer and realized that it was the separate cellphone she had any member on the Team contact her on.

"Nightingale." she answered.

"Gale, I need to talk to you." Conner's voice entered through the device. Annabeth glanced to Dick and answered as she kept eye contact with him.

"There's an old Wayne Shipping yard in Blüdhaven. Meet me there in fifteen minutes." Annabeth said. She flipped the phone shut and pushed herself off of the desk.

"He's going to tell you." Dick said knowingly. Annabeth nodded. "That was it seems like."

She told him to not worry. He helped her gather her work and walked down with her to the parking lot.

The security guard greeted the famous pair and they entered her Audi. She sped off toward the Manor, where she changed from her professional wear and into more casual clothes. She went behind a cave wall that she used when she was younger to change and reemerged seconds later pulling on her black shirt.

The two of them had seen each other in their undergarments before, so it never really matter to them after that. She buttoned her skinny jeans and strapped her boots.

"It sounded like he was angry." Dick commented, throwing her jacket at her. Annabeth barked out a laugh as she caught it.

"Did he now?" she asked, slipping her arms through the sleeves.

"Do you think he'll tell the others?" Dick questioned suddenly. Annabeth could tell he was losing his cool and patience.

"Dick," she said, walking up to him. She placed her hands on his shoulders. "We've known Conner literally since his first breath of fresh air. He won't tell the rest of the team, you know that."

He nodded. Annabeth smiled and patted his cheek before walking back toward the main entrance of the cave. Her German Shepherds were sitting by the computer, wagging their tails curiously.

She walked out to the garage, Dick and the two dogs followed her out and watched her disappear down the long and dark tunnel that lead to the closest zeta beam. The ebony strained to hear for her motorcycle, but when he couldn't he knew she was off of Manor grounds, and walked back toward the elevator that lead to the main house.

"Zeus Thumper, let's go." he called. Thumper obediently followed. Zeus, who was the older of the two, lingered at the entrance.

"Zeus, let's go." Dick called again, clapping his hands. When the dog didn't respond, Dick just rolled his eyes and pressed the up button. Thumper whined for his brother, but then stopped when Dick rubbed his head. Zeus waited for a few more seconds before turning away and going to the elevator. He jumped up and hit the call button with his paw, then patiently waited for the elevator to come back down.

* * *

Blüdhaven

April 10, 2016 11:30 EDT

Nightingale jumped down from the rafters and landed on a pile of old crates. Conner was there with his arms folded tightly and a hard set glare toward the ground.

"If you keep glaring like that you'll get wrinkles." Nightingale advised, going down into a crouch. The Super clone glanced at her from the corner of his eye and rolled them.

"That'll be the least of my worries." he replied, pushing himself up from the crates. Nightingale shrugged.

"Suit yourself," she said, standing slowly. "But don't say I didn't warn you." The brunet hero flipped off of the old containers and landed before the ebony. She rose slowly, and as she did, she spoke.

"What do you need to speak to me about?"

"Did you know that Artemis is still alive?" Conner demanded suddenly. Nightingale was taken aback slightly at his brusque tone. Nightingale opened her mouth to reply but he suddenly snapped, the leader couldn't react fast enough to see what was coming next. Conner pinned her against the crates and glared, his hands held firmly onto her wrists.

"I can tell you're about to lie; so don't."

Nightingale pushed him off her and brushed off her shoulders as some of the crates dust and old wood chips fell on her.

"I wasn't going to lie; but then again I wasn't going to tell you the whole truth." she said, folding her arms. "Yes I knew she was alive, but I was just as shocked and angry as you were! I found out the same day she 'died'."

"Next question: Did you know Kaldur was undercover?"

"Yes, but not until I found out Artemis was still alive. I was just as willing to tear him limb from limb as you are-were."

"Last one," Conner continued, he didn't seem fazed by his leader's words. But his voice now lost its angry tone. "Can you find M'gann?"

Nightingale let out a deep breath through her nose then shrugged halfheartedly. "I...I don't know."

Conner breathed deeply and Nightingale decided to let the rest of the secrets out.

"Look, Conner, let me explain everything that I know so far." Nightingale offered. Conner nodded, lifting his hand for her to continue.

"Kaldur's been under deep cover for Nightwing since Tula's death, using that as a reason to enter his father's ranks and Nightwing called Artemis in to help. She was given a charmed necklace to conceal her identity from everyone else. But only herself, Nightwing, Wally and Kaldur can really tell it's truly her. As of right now, the situation just shifted and things are going to be a lot more tightly lipped."

"Does anybody else know?"

"Yourself, myself, Nightwing, Wally, Lagaan and from what Nightwing told me and M'gann."

Conner ran his hands through his short hair and Nightingale tried to comfort him.

"Listen, I know how Black Manta thinks. He won't discard anything that is of any usefulness to him. And M'gann falls under that category. As long as she does what she's told and Artemis is with her, M'gann should be safe until we can save her." Nightingale reassured, resting her hands on his shoulders. Conner nodded, he looked back to her.

"Any more secrets?"

Nightingale bit her lip. Conner laughed in disbelief, throwing his arms up in the air.

"Seriously?"

Nightingale narrowed her eyes and raised a hand to strike Conner. He caught her fist and pushed it away from him. She smirked and punched him with her left fist, he was sent back into the wall. It cracked and Nightingale held him there by his throat. Lightly, but firm enough where he wouldn't fight back.

"What was that?" he asked. Nightingale pulled back and flexed her fist.

"When the Reach ran their tests on me, I developed meta genes. I'm still human, but everything is enhanced like my strength, agility, eyesight, and hearing. I can heal myself quickly, but I don't know to what extent that goes to." Nightingale said, looking at her opening and closing fist.

Conner walked past her a few steps and then turned back around, prepared to tell her something, but his leader was gone.

There was a laugh echoing around him and soon a voice traveled down.

"Get back home, Kon."

Nightingale was standing in the rafters, her shoulder leaning against the old wood as it supported her weight easily. Conner was looking around and she heard his sigh and watched him walk out of the building.

_'At the end of the day, you have to tell the truth at one point or another.'_ Nightingale sighed. She checked for the time back in Gotham.

It was not going to be a good meeting day.


	17. Questions

Blüdhaven

April 15, 2016 22:39 EDT

Nightingale entered the temporary HQ, which was empty since she gave the Team an 'order' to blow off some steam out in the city. She knew they were still tense and needed relief, so she figured a bit of fun in a town where nobody noticed anything would help.

She opened the door and heard a faint click. A hiss and then a light. Masked eyes narrowed and she saw Blue Beetle hovering over the computer, her tablet was beside the keyboard. The tablet's screen was lit up faintly, documents flooded the screen.

The tablet itself was the reason Nightingale left a party where her boyfriend was the guest of honor. She had left it behind, something she never did, and didn't realize it until the two had made their entrance. She left merely minutes later, but thankfully he understood as he knew the secret. But that in itself was a story for another time.

Blue looked back from the computer screen and saw his leader standing there with her eyes narrowed.

"N-Nightingale! What's up?" Blue stammered.

Nightingale stepped forward. "I should be asking you the same thing, Blue. What are you doing with my computer?" she questioned, advancing toward the blue armored teen.

Blue ran his hand over the tablet, hoping to make the screen go away like he'd seen her do multiple times before. But the tablet only emitted a high pitched alarm and locked immediately, keeping the screen on its current screen but shut down internally.

His eyes locked onto her wrist where she had pressed a button. Nightingale narrowed her eyes.

"Jaime Reyes, _what_ were you doing with_ my_ tablet?" she repeated in a much more angry tone. Her hand was at her side, lingering over her belt. Blue glanced around quickly; Nightingale's mask looked at his left wrist.

The armor plates shifting into a cannon reached her ears and she attacked.

She grabbed his wrist tightly in her hand and pinned him to the ground, her right knee was set firmly into the small of his back, and the tip of her boot was at the joint of his leg. Her left foot was holding down his other leg firmly while her left hand was holding a death grip on his wrist that was in mid-shift, her right hand was pressed against his head, holding it to the ground.

"What are you doing?" Blue exclaimed, fussing in her grip. Nightingale narrowed her eyes.

"I heard your armor shift into a cannon! You were going to _attack_ me." Nightingale accused. Her eyes went to his right hand and they widened as a staple gun entered her vision. It launched a staple that latched onto her throat, pinning her to the ground.

Nightingale pulled at the blue restraint and threw a smoke grenade at him as he made an escape. She threw a line as the smoke exploded and tied the Hispanic team member.

"Why are you doing this Blue? What's happening to you?" Nightingale asked, her voice took on a desperate tone. Blue glanced back at her.

"Nothing that concerns you, _Nena_." he growled, the line snapped and Nightingale found herself pinned back down to the ground with a much sturdier staple. Blue then fled from the hideout.

"Beetle!" she yelled after him. Nightingale tried to pull at the staple again but she had to pull at it twice for it to come up.

She grabbed the tablet from the table and unlocked it.

Information flooded the screen, the case file she was composing on the Reach that was filled with video and evidence greeted her as well as other things such as old files from years before Blue's induction into the team.

"Why was he looking at all of this?" she wondered softly, flipping through the screen. She pulled her phone from her belt and dialed her boyfriend.

"_Blake,_" he answered.

"I don't think I'm returning to your party, John." she said. She heard his disappointed sigh.

"_Your other job?_" he asked. Nightingale sighed sadly.

"Yeah, I'm sorry. But I can't-"

"_It's alright, babe. Do you want me to leave the party?_" John asked, concern was clearly shown in his voice.

"No, Gordon will kill you and yell at me the next time I stop by the station." Nightingale told him with a laugh. She sighed again. "Just stay there and tell them I had something come up."

"_We can't always throw that story around when you need to go do your other job. People will begin to pick up on it._"

"Well then tell them something else. I'll see you tomorrow morning at the apartment." Nightingale ended the call and looked back to the tablet.

* * *

Gotham

April 16, 2016 12:30 EDT

Annabeth was looking at the bruise on her hip from last night's fight. John set down his coffee cup and furrowed his brow in worry.

"Are you going to tell me what happened or not? I thought we agreed on no secrets in this agreement?" John asked worriedly. Annabeth sighed and pulled down her shirt, she felt the blood seeping away from her skin slowly and shuddered a bit.

John Blake was a tall man, with short ebony hair and warm brown eyes. He was twenty two, three years older than Annabeth. John was a kind and likeable man; he was smart and had a thing to think outside of the box. He was one to see things through and saw some things better than others; Annabeth called it a sixth sense.

He was an officer in GCPD and in fact had ties to the Wayne family through an orphanage. The two met while Annabeth was making a routine visit to the police station, Gordon introduced them approximately two months prior to the actual Reach discovery. They've been dating since the month after their meeting.

"Okay," Annabeth gave in; she threw herself on her couch and laid her lead against the armrest. "Do you remember Jaime? One of the team members I told you about?"

"He's Blue Beetle right?" John asked after taking a drink of his coffee. Annabeth nodded, she sat up and rested her arms on her knees. "How does last night's event have any connection to him?"

"He's the reason I couldn't return to the party."

John raised a questioning eyebrow. "Go on."

"I went back to Blüdhaven to get my tablet that I left behind. And when I entered, he was snooping through it." Annabeth began, holding up said tablet.

"How could he have gotten into it in the first place? You said it yourself that it's guarded like the Pentagon's computer system."

"I was also wondering the same thing. But you're forgetting one key piece, John."

"His armor." the ebony realized. "Can it even do that?"

Annabeth nodded. "It's alien technology that the Reach itself created. So yes, to answer your question, it is capable of doing such. He was looking through the Reach's case file and even some files that have no connection to what's happening now."

"What may not seem like much to you could be a lot to him, babe. I've seen cases that an officer looked over key evidence when there was an obvious connection; you just have to find the connection that Jaime is seeing."

Annabeth began to ponder this in her head. "But it still doesn't explain as to why he was so...Aggressive toward me. Jaime is usually so nice to me, he's the coolest one on the team; personality wise."

"Do you think his armor has anything to do with it?" John asked suddenly after thinking this over for himself. Annabeth shot her head up toward him.

"What makes you think that?"

"The armor is of alien origin like you said so what if it's malfunctioning? What if the Reach wants to take it back?"

Annabeth fell back against the couch and looked at her boyfriend in disbelief.

"I...I hadn't thought of that..."she said softly. "But..."

"It's a possibility Annabeth." John said. He walked around the small table separating them and bent before her, taking her hands in his.

"I don't want to think about it either, from what you told me Jaime seems like to have a heart of gold but you have to think of every possibility. Isn't that what Bruce taught you?" he asked softly, rubbing her hands with his comfortingly.

"Of course it is!" she snapped suddenly. John squeezed her hands reassuringly.

"Listen, I know how much you love your team but right now your feelings for Jaime needs to disappear because this could be a serious thing." John said, sitting beside her and wrapping an arm around her shoulders. He pulled her close and kissed her head.

"I know." Annabeth nodded. John wanted to say something else but his phone vibrated in his pocket. He pulled it from its confines and flipped it open, reading over the short message.

"I need to go. Apparently there's a shootout pretty close by and I'm the closest one to the scene." John said quickly, standing up. Annabeth raised her eyebrows and followed his movements around the apartment to change.

"Do I need to go too?" Annabeth asked. John stopped midway of pulling on a fresh shirt.

"No, we'll handle it. I don't think it's that extensive that Nightingale has to get involved." John answered, continuing to pull on the shirt. He slipping into his jeans and clipped his badge and gun to his hip.

Annabeth nodded, folding her arms. John kissed her sweetly.

"I don't want you to go because if you're there I'll be distracted simply your presence." he said, leaning his forehead against hers. "Now I want you to go to the manor and stay there until I call you."

"John I can take-"

"Please Annabeth; I just don't want you in the area. I know you can take care of yourself, but if I know you're even remotely close I won't be able to focus." he said softly. Annabeth smiled a bit and nodded.

"Alright, I'll leave." Annabeth agreed. John kissed her again and walked toward the door.

Annabeth joined him minutes later with Zeus and Thumper. They rode the express elevator and exited through the back as to avoid the chaos of the lobby. Annabeth's SUV was waiting in the parking garage. This was the car she usually used when she was taking her dogs out to the park, doctors, or the manor as they wouldn't fit into her smaller Audi. Zeus and Thumper entered the back seats and she closed the door behind them.

John helped her into the SUV and gave her one final kiss.

"I'll see you later." John promised. Annabeth nodded and pulled off. She saw John running to his own car in the rearview mirror and exit through the second exit, his sirens echoed in the garage.

She sighed and looked back to the twins. Thumper whined in concern. Zeus tilted his head.

"It's alright guys," she reassured. "Just going to visit the manor because at the end of the day, your boyfriend just may know things about your team you don't even know."

Blue eyes returned to the road ahead of her and she gripped the steering wheel tightly.

"I just hope it's not what it appears to be."


	18. Runaways

Wayne Manor

May 13, 2016 14:50 EDT

"You _still_ haven't told Dick?!"

Annabeth winced and returned to throwing batarangs at the target in the gym.

"I-uh, haven't found a good time to?" Annabeth replied nervously.

"Annabeth!" John said sharply. "You need to tell him now or else he'll-!"

"_I'll do what_ Blake?"

Brown and blue eyes looked over to the door and saw Dick standing there with Tim, both were in their exercise clothes and Dick had two towels thrown over his shoulder and two bottles of water.

"I'll see you later Annabeth, I'm on lunch and I'm needed back in a few minutes." John said quickly, she nodded as she looked away from the eyes watching her.

John kissed her cheek, shook Dick's hand and ruffled Tim's hair quickly before leaving.

"What was that all about Anna B?" Tim asked, going over to her as he stretched out his arms. Annabeth waved it off and walked over to the target, pulling off the shuriken like blades and placing them on the table.

"John was scolding me about not telling your brother about our double date plan." Annabeth covered up, looking toward Dick with a smile. The said teen narrowed his eyes and threw his bottle of water and the towels toward the youngest Bat.

"Tim, watch how we fight. Pick out any mistakes." Dick ordered, walking to the center of the mat. Annabeth sighed mentally.

_'He knows I'm fibbing. But I know that he's unsure about what. I just may be able to change his mind.'_ she thought.

Annabeth and Dick both bent their knees, but Annabeth was a bit lower bent than her brother. Tim was sitting on the bench and watched eagerly.

"Go!" he called. Dick struck first, going for the obvious attack. Annabeth dodged his lunge and went to sweep out his feet but Dick jumped and flipped over her.

Annabeth kicked upward, she gasped as her ankle was caught in his hand. She gritted her teeth and pushed up on her hands, using her other leg to kick his stomach. Dick grimaced and coughed a bit, wiping his lip.

Dick's blue eyes scanned for an opening and saw one. Annabeth smirked as he took the bait.

She slipped underneath his arm, locked her leg around his and her arm around his throat, using that to knock him onto his backside. But Dick wouldn't let her go that easily.

He wrapped his legs around her waist and pushed her onto her back. Annabeth pushed off his legs and began to follow up with her other attack when the gym door opened with a slight creak.

"Pardon my intrusion." Alfred began, bowing slightly. He held up a house phone and looked to Tim. "There is a Miss Valerie Watson on the phone who wishes to speak to Master Timothy."

Tim's face instantly flushed and he ran out of the gym with the phone in hand. Alfred chuckled and bowed again before leaving.

"So are we done?" Annabeth questioned, kipping herself upright. Dick shrugged and nodded, but then he said casually.

"So, who's this _Valerie Watson_?"

"A new girl in Gotham Academy, Tim was nice enough and offered to be her friend. They talked and now they're hanging out." Annabeth answered, pulling her hair from its pony tail and retying it more securely.

"Hanging out?" Dick questioned with a familiar tone. Annabeth rolled her eyes.

"Give him some space. He's allowed to have a girlfriend Dick, you aren't his father."

"And last I checked you weren't his mother." Dick retorted sharply. Annabeth raised an eyebrow and folded her arms, leaning onto her right leg.

"I didn't mean it like that Anna B." Dick recovered quickly, noticing her stance and fearing the worst. Annabeth '_Mmh'_ed and dropped her arms.

"I understand you sent Jaime to go get the runaways." Annabeth changed the subject. Dick let out a mental sigh of relief before nodding.

"Yeah, but he did more than that. He introduced himself to reporters and allowed them to escape."

Annabeth's eyes widened just a bit. "So Jaime has no idea where they went?"

"No, he said they must've run off while the reporters were talking to him." Dick replied, stretching out his arm. It cracked and the ebony haired teen let it fall while he did the same to the other arm.

"So are you going to continue to live the lie you told earlier?"

"Dick don't-"

"Yes or no?" Dick demanded, narrowing his eyes threateningly.

"I'm not obligated to tell you anything." Annabeth said firmly. "Last I checked, you weren't exactly holding up your end of our promise either."

"I'm _voluntarily_ telling you everything. So _volunteer_ your information." Dick challenged. Annabeth sat on the bench, folded her legs and leaned back a bit.

"John's gratitude party, that night I left my tablet at the base." Annabeth started. Dick nodded toward her. "I went to retrieve it and when I did, Jaime was looking through it. I don't know what he was looking for."

"Did you confront him about it?"

"Yes, I did. But what he was looking for is still a mystery to me."

_'At least that bit isn't a lie.'_ Annabeth added in mentally.

"Do you think he took any information off of the hard drive?"

"No, I didn't find any previous drive or breach in the system that would hint at the possibility of him stealing info." Annabeth replied. Dick nodded and tapped his chin.

"I'll speak to him about it; he will be punished for it." Dick concluded. Annabeth stiffened.

"No! I mean, it's not necessary for that extent." Annabeth said quickly. "We need all the help we can get from this team. So if letting a little privacy breach slip is necessary then so be it."

"Annabeth, I'm not sure if you're grasping this. He was looking through _classified_ files!" Dick yelled, throwing his arm out. Annabeth didn't flinch nor did her locked gaze waver from his.

"I understand that completely! I'm all for punishing Jaime, I really am, but right now isn't the time to relieve him of his duties! We can punish him another time, but for right now we need to focus on getting Megan back and finding a way to get the Reach off our planet!" Annabeth yelled back, stepping up to him. They were centimeters away from each other, their eyes were locked and they would've stayed like that if Alfred hadn't stepped in.

"Master Richard, Madam Annabeth, do me the kind favor and dispel this argument. You are on the same team fighting for the same goal." Alfred said, pushing them away from each other gently. Blue eyes flickered from the aged butler and back to each other.

"This is not something your father would be very pleased about either. Master Timothy doesn't need to see his elder siblings arguing nor do I wish to see the two children I've cared for so deeply claw out each other's throats."

Annabeth's muscles released their tension and she backed away from Dick and Alfred. She looked between the two before walking quickly from the gym. The door slammed closed behind her and it rattled the door frame.

Alfred looked back to Dick.

"Master Richard, what's happened to the both of you? I am very well aware of the reasons to your tension and anger but I will not tolerate you and your sister fighting here. You are a _family _and I would very well appreciate it if the two of you remembered what you've gone through together; the wins and the losses as well as the hardships. I have never seen this before and I would like to never see it again." Alfred scolded firmly. Dick opened his mouth to reply but Alfred shook his head.

"I shall prepare lunch, do go and clean up while I prepare."

And with that, Alfred left the room to leave a speechless Dick alone. He walked toward the bench and grabbed his water. Blue eyes stared at the clear plastic container before he threw it angrily at the wall.

Tim was outside the door, leaning against the wall silently.

"At the end of the day, even the most perfect of families can have the most imperfections." he muttered softly.

He decided he didn't want to spar with his older brother after all.


	19. War

Blüdhaven

May 26, 11:00 EDT

"Alpha will consist of Superboy, Wondergirl, Arsenal and Wolf to attack Mongul." Nightwing explained. The rest of the team was surrounding him as he explained their tasks. The door opened and the team looked back.

"I'm going too." Nightingale announced, entering the room. Nightwing smiled at her.

"I didn't think you'd show up," he commented, going towards her. Nightingale glanced at Blue Beetle quickly before returning her gaze to Nightwing.

"Considering there is a second moon in our atmosphere? I would've known there was going to be some kind of mission involving my team. Who is assigned to what?"

"Alpha is Superboy, Wondergirl, Arsenal and Wolf. They're going to attack Mongul at the helm."

Nightingale thought to herself and nodded. "I'll go with Alpha. What're Robin and Batgirl doing?"

"They're going to fly in the bio ship and provide cover for the League as well as a secret entrance for the team." Nightwing said. Nightingale nodded again.

"Okay, let's get this show on the road." Nightingale said. After Nightwing assigned the missions, he also informed that if any of the team succeeded in their mission then the overall plan would be a success. Just before they left to the bio ship, Nightingale wanted to pull Blue Beetle to the side and have a word with him, but she thought differently and watched him go with Impulse and Beastboy.

Warworld

May 26, 12:00 UTC

A swarm of drones over took the Alpha squad and Superboy glanced at Nightingale who smirked.

"Bet I can take out the most, Supey." she said, running up to the drones. The ebony clone snorted and ran next to her.

"Not a chance!" he replied. Nightingale quirked an eyebrow and kicked herself off of the wall and launched toward the drones. She tapped on multiple explosives to them and punched out the others. Superboy smashed them with a roar and Nightingale went to say something to him when she noticed Arsenal with a very large weapon.

"Superboy-!" Nightingale exclaimed suddenly. The ebony didn't have enough time to react when the missile was launched toward the group of attacker drones that they were currently surrounded by. Nightingale and Superboy just barely dodged the debris range and they hit the ground hard.

Superboy helped her up and made sure she didn't have any injuries before glaring at Arsenal.

"A little warning might've been nice." he said. Nightingale walked up behind him. Arsenal shrugged, his palms upraised.

"Take cover." He said. Superboy growled and Nightingale placed a hand on his shoulder, a sign to cool down. He gave her a hardly noticeable nod and turned.

"Come on, we're close." he said. Then he ran off, Wolf and Cassie followed after him. Arsenal rolled his eyes and was about to do the same, but Nightingale stopped him.

"That was reckless, Arsenal. Next time throw out a warning before you get someone killed." She scolded. "This team's field performance is assembled based on team work. So start working before you're dismissed." she said, poking him in the chest. She muttered for him to hurry up and follow as she sprinted off after her team.

Superboy led them into the chamber where Mongul was located. Nightingale tapped on her mask's video camera, deciding to give Nightwing a picture of what was happening. They stopped within feet of the door.

The window to what was happening outside turned to black and the orange tech-like designed faded, leaving only the outline. The seat turned and the team tensed.

"He _is_ a big one." Arsenal noted.

"This is your attack force? I'm insulted." the alien said, he was impassive. Superboy gave a glance to Nightingale, who nodded and mouthed quickly.

"Your call."

"Learn to cope." Superboy said before he attacked. Cassie and Wolf followed suit, Nightingale decided to attack from behind and Arsenal was preparing his arm.

Mongul grabbed Conner by the face and threw him to the ground; he smacked both Cassie and Wolf away.

Nightingale jumped over Cassie, after getting a reassuring nod from the girl, and attacked. She caught his large fist into her stomach and the brunet hero was sent flying toward the wall. She groaned as she hit the ground, faintly hearing Arsenal firing a grenade.

Her ribcage cracked uncomfortably. When she looked back up, her ribcage was healed and Superboy was in Mongul's fist.

"Little Kryptonian," he teased, tightening his hold on the ebony and tapping Superboy's shield. "So proud of your powers...Did you truly believe yours was the only race to come from a world with a red sun?"

Cassie had employed Nightingale's new found strength to help her pull the large alien down. She tossed the lasso and the two girls pulled.

Mongul glanced behind him and reached for the golden rope, pulling it himself. Cassie and Nightingale were pulled forward, but Nightingale let go just before, vaulted off of Mongul's elbow and kicked him in the face.

That seemed to have little effect, and Arsenal launched a _poly-foam _arrow as Nightingale called it when she was younger. She backed away as the foam expanded and hardened. Mongul's hold on Superboy didn't weaken however, so Superboy punched him several times before Mongul freed his torso and threw the Kryptonian to the floor, then broke his legs free.

Wolf attacked next, growling and latching his canines onto Mongul's shoulder. He picked Wolf off of his shoulder by the nape of his neck and held him out before him.

"The novelty of this encounter has officially worn off." Mongul said, he then threw the white furred canine into a recovering Wondergirl.

Nightingale growled and launched an attack. She jumped up and aimed a well-placed punch directly in the center of Mongul's face. Mongul gripped her by her torso and squeezed her tightly.

Nightingale gasped as she felt her ribcage snapping. She coughed and reached for a shuriken. Mongul threw her down and pressed his boot into her chest. Nightingale bit back a yell and attempted to push the heavy boot off.

"A _human_ super hero? I thought you would've died by now. This amount of pressure...It seems as though your structure has been enhanced." Mongul noted dully. He removed his boot from her chest, picked her up once again and threw her into the wall. She moaned as she fell to a crimpled mess on the ground. Her hair provided a wall of protection from Arsenal's gas.

But with her energy gone and her lungs in danger of being punctured by her multiple rebroken ribs, Nightingale's body shut down and her vision darkened. She collapsed after her shaking arms finally gave out.

Sometime later, Nightingale distantly heard a yell and a slight vibration. A warm hand was shaking her shoulder.

"Batman..." she mumbled unknowingly. Nightingale's vision slowly returned and a throbbing headache paired with it. Superman's red shield corrected her as well as Superboy's chuckle.

"Wrong guy Gale. Come on, get up." he coaxed. The ebony haired Kryptonian put her arm around his shoulders and lifted her up.

"Nightingale? Nightingale report." called Nightwing. The said brunet pushed against Superboy to stretch out her spine and gripped his clothed shoulder tightly when she felt her ribcage realign almost instantaneously.

"I'm here and okay. I assume everything went according to plan?" she asked her two friends. Superboy nodded.

"The mission was successful. Just get to the rendezvous point and I'll have a look at you. You don't sound too good." Nightwing said with concern. Nightingale gave him a chuckle as a reply and muttered roger before looking to Superboy, who smiled a bit.

"You don't look too well either." he commented, going back to the unconscious and tied up Mongul. She gave him a sarcastic laugh and stretched out her sides, feeling that her ribs were rightfully taut and no internal bleeding.

Alpha then made their way toward the rendezvous point.

They were just entering the hanger and Nightingale smiled to herself as she saw Karen and Mal sharing was seemed to her as a celebratory kiss.

"Wow, how do I get that reward?" Arsenal asked with a smirk. Nightingale laughed a bit and Wondergirl gave a sweet kiss on the cheek.

"That's a start." he said with a smile. Nightingale went to congratulate her team and tell them to board the bioship, but she stopped herself and looked to Blue.

_'No.'_ she said mentally, her eyes widened as she saw his eyes.

"Well, now that the gangs all here." Blue Beetle said, he gripped the key firmly and smacked the back of Impulse's neck. Nightingale gasped as Blue then turned the sonic cannon on them.

Everything seemed to go in slow motion for her. Mal yelled for them to look out and held onto Karen, pushing her out of the way. She vaulted from her position and looked back at him from her crouched position. She saw Arsenal hiding behind Sphere.

"Blue, _what_ are you _doing_?" Superboy said, both he and Wondergirl were standing with Mongul in complete shock.

"It's not Blue!" Nightingale said, her own disbelief paralyzed her. She watched as the blue armored teen flew into Superboy and sent him flying toward the back wall.

He held up Mongul with one hand and flipped the alien onto Wondergirl, then used his staple gun to restrain her hands. Nightingale shook her head and ran to stand beside Robin and Karen.

The two bat family members threw birdarangs at the teen. Robin's deflected off of his jetpack and Nightingale's scratched his arm, leaving an opening and cutting into Jaime's arm.

Blue turned to them and Nightingale heard an accelerated heart beat that wasn't coming from Karen or Robin.

She saw her auburn haired team mate standing beside the air lock release.

"Don't do it!" she yelled, reaching for her grappling hook at the same time. Arsenal pressed the button and the doors opened.

Nightingale felt her body leaving the floor and she fired off the line, it hooked onto the door farthest from the hatch. She grabbed onto Robin's wrist, which was straining to keep himself and Karen from flying out into space by using a birdarang, and held tightly. The brunet leader wanted to make sure her brother and teammate wasn't going anywhere.

Blue was surprised by the opening and was nearly sucked into space. The air pressure loosened Nightingale's grip she had on her brother and Karen, yanking the two from her grasp.

"Robin! Bee!" she yelled, eyes going wide. Just as she prepared to catch them with another line, Blue used his blade to smash the panel, forcing the door to close. Blue Beetle then used his sonic cannon on Robin, Karen and Wolf, who tried to stand but ultimately passed out.

Nightingale heard her heart beating a mile per second; her hands shook with anger, shock, and adrenaline. The shaking prevented her from moving, she was stuck.

"Why..?" Superboy asked, looking weak and spent.

"Don't waste the oxygen, _hermano_, there's very little left in here." Blue replied, Nightingale went to hide just before he glanced in her direction. She saw Arsenal using a line to escape from the scene.

_'What is he doing?'_ she thought, and then she tapped her comms. while looking at his departure.

Blue was about to fire off a staple at the shaven auburn, but Superboy got in the way of that. Arsenal dropped down from his line and ran off.

"Nightingale to Watchtower. Watchtower come in!" she said hurriedly. She looked back out from her hiding spot.

Superboy was struggling to sit upright and as he did, he looked to Nightingale. The leader only saw one word in his eyes: help.

She heard his quick grunt of pain as Blue knocked him out. There was also a reply from Nightwing.

_"Gale? What's going on? Nightingale!"_ Nightwing exclaimed. Nightingale stepped out from her hiding place. Blue was examining the crystal key in his hands.

"You traitor!" she yelled. Blue looked over to her, he didn't notice her presence before. But now that he had, he wouldn't and couldn't let her leave.

"That's where you're wrong, _Senorita_." he replied, walking over to her, the staple gun shifted to a sonic cannon. "I'm just playing for the winning team!"

He fired at her and Nightingale looked around her as she dodged the cannon. Her entire team was down and knocked out. Arsenal was MIA and she had to be the one to escape to the Watchtower.

She fired a line up to higher ground and replied to Nightwing.

"The team is down. The team is down!" she repeated. A hand grabbed her ankle and yanked her down, throwing her to the ground. Nightingale gritted her teeth and fired off another line, saving herself and throwing multiple smoke bombs toward Blue.

_"What'd you mean _the team is down_? What's going on?!_" Nightwing demanded. Nightingale took cover behind a wall and scanned for Blue.

"Blue-"she only managed a syllable as a high pitched frequency interrupted her words and short circuited her comms. She threw the small device from her ear and ran.

The sonic cannon caught her in the smoke, sending her toward the corner of the hanger. Nightingale groaned and shook her head, throwing off the buzzing sound in her head and the fuzziness.

"The Reach is doing this to you, aren't they Jaime?" she asked, standing up and leaving the corner. She knew that she could beat Jaime in one thing: hand to weapon combat.

Blue had his blade grazing the ground, sending up sparks. She dodged his swipe toward her face by leaning far back and sweeping out his legs, she tapped both of his legs with her hands and hit his back three times with an open palm.

Blue growled and slashed at her again, but she was standing ten feet from him and she pressed a button. The tiny explosives she tapped around his body exploded at different times, but somewhat simultaneously.

"Don't expect to get out of this one alive, _Nena_." he said, standing up slowly.

Nightingale tensed her muscles and eyed his plasma cannon. He flew at her and grabbed her by the neck, pinning her against the wall. He raised the cannon to her head.

"_Never_ pin me to a wall." she muttered, grabbing his wrist in her hands. Blue seemed confused for a second, as his grip faltered and his eyes shifted.

Nightingale tightened her grip she had on his hands, raised her left leg to wrap around his neck then used that to push his head down and smash it into her right knee. Blue released her in pain and held his face.

She sprinted toward the exit, though her muscles protested against it. Nightingale's adrenaline turned to fear as she ran faster. She dared a look back at the black and blue armored teen and saw plasma waves coming at her.

Nightingale changed her course and moved to the left, but then white hot fire ripped through her side. She screamed and felt her body become extremely weak.

_'Keep running! Don't stop!'_ she repeated. It soon became her mantra. Nightingale's vision threatened to blur but she blinked it away and continued running.

Blue Beetle eyed the heavy blood trail that Nightingale was leaving behind.

_"Don't just stand there, chase after her and finish the job_!" the Ambassador's voice yelled.

"No point. With the injury I gave her, _Senorita_ will die within minutes." Blue replied, he turned away from the trail and proceeded with his other mission objective.


	20. Complications

The Warworld

May 27, 06:30 UTC

"Airlocks damaged..." Nightwing observed. He narrowed his eyes and noticed a birdarang lodged into the pipe.

"Robin's birdarang," he picked it up and scanned it. It had traces of Blue Beetle's armor. The ebony haired leader looked up and noticed another shuriken like weapon. But this one was distinctively different.

It was black and looked like Batman's shuriken; there was also a speck of blood on the side of the blade.

"Nightingale..."he muttered, he picked it up and scanned the blood. He was shocked by the results. The blood belonged to Jaime and it also had trace amounts of his armor.

Why would both Nightingale and Robin's weapons have Jaime's armor on its blades?

Nightwing narrowed his eyes and threw the shuriken down, causing it to lodge itself back into the ground. He looked over the bay and noticed something glittering.

He walked over and noticed it was a heavy blood trail. Nightwing kneeled down and pressed a gloved finger to the substance. It was lukewarm and had not yet dried, he scanned over it.

The first result he received was that the blood was AB _negative_, a very rare blood type. He didn't know if anyone on the team had that blood type, but it was very slim. He then thought about Batgirl, Robin and Nightin-

His eyes widened.

Nightingale's blood type was AB negative...One of the many reasons Batman always feared for her life-secretly-if she had a life threatening injury or needed a blood transfusion.

That fear was confirmed when the ID came back.

_'Annabeth Belle Jones Wayne'_ was blinking on the holographic screen; her picture was displayed idly beside the name.

"No..." he said to himself. He fell back onto the ground and gripped at his hair. With the amount of blood spilled before him alone...It was unlikely that Nightingale survived her injury.

There was yet another result given to him. And this stood out the most, answering his previous question.

Nightingale's blood had traces of plasma, as from a plasma cannon which only one member of his team has: Blue Beetle.

Pieces of a puzzle were being laid out before him, now he only had to find the other pieces and figure out the bigger picture the puzzle creates.

There was a faint sound of footsteps coming toward him. He jumped back from the blood pool and readied his eskrima sticks; he was not in the mood for any more bad news.

The footsteps came closer and closer until they stopped all together.

"Dick..."said a hoarse voice, it was followed by a cough and the person came into the light. Nightwing's eyes widened.

Nightingale was walking toward him slowly, mostly leaning against the wall for support. Her mask was missing and her eyes displayed pain and exhaustion. Her uniform was ripped in multiple places and dirtied. But what attracted his attention the most was the large and what seemed to be gaping wound in her side.

Her right hand was pressing against the blood soaked gauze that covered the majority of her side. Nightwing noticed her legs shaking and it seemed as though she was ready to collapse.

"Nightingale!" he yelled, he ran over to her and took her in his arms. She collapsed and let out a sigh of relief.

"I'm so glad you're here." she said softly, looking up to his mask. She rested her head against his chest and let out a breath.

"Try not to talk too much. You seemed to have lost a lot of blood." Nightwing advised. He laid her down and gently peeled off the bloody gauze. Nightingale hissed at the tearing and gripped his bicep.

Nightwing winced at the wound; he could see that the plasma cannon etched a good hole in her side. But the wound was slowly healing itself, the muscles were torn and destroyed but the nerves seemed unharmed. The dead muscle tissue was regenerating slowly and forming again to protect the nerves.

He shook his head and tapped his comms.

_"Captain Atom."_

"Cap, Nightingale has turned up. She wasn't sucked into the boom tube with the rest of the team. Nightingale has a severe and possibly life threatening injury to her right side." Nightwing reported.

Captain said Doctor Fate was opening a portal immediately and that Tornado and Black Canary were going to help.

"And, you'll never believe who caused her injuries..."Nightwing said. Nightingale looked over and saw the portal, Black Canary and Red Tornado ran toward them and Black Canary was so shocked at the injury that she had to step away for a minute before returning to help the girl.

They took her to the Watchtower infirmary. Nightwing went back to the base; Nightingale noticed that he had Robin's birdarang. As she went to say something to her brother, she finally felt the sedatives Red Tornado gave her starting to work.


	21. Recovery

Recovery

The Watchtower

May 28, 13:09 EST

Annabeth was resting in her bed, her breaths coming and going easily. Nightwing was silently sitting beside her; his sunglasses covered his eyes from view.

There was a soft vibration in his pocket and he exited the room, answering it as he closed the door.

"Yeah?"

"Hey Dick, is Annabeth okay?"

The said ebony sighed. It was John Blake, Annabeth's boyfriend and a recently promoted detective at that.

"Um, John, listen.. Annabeth is," he stammered. He heard John's deep sigh on the other end.

"Don't try to sugar coat this, Dick. I know the job and responsibilities you two have. Just tell me flat out: Is my girlfriend alive or dead?"

"Yes John, Annabeth is alive. But she's not okay injury wise." Dick replied.

"How badly is she hurt?" John with a worry laced voice.

"She's suffered a...uh, a large gash to the right side of her body and some bruising. But the bruising is already healing because of her accelerated healing, but the side injury is something I'm more concerned about." Nightwing said, he peaked into her room before continuing.

"It seems that since her side has the largest injury, it caused her to lose the most blood-she even had to get a blood transfusion-and that may be slowing down the healing process for that specific injury."

"Can I see her? I know it's a lot to ask for but I just need to see her..." John's voice trailed off toward the end.

"John, I know you care a lot about Annabeth and I thank you for it, but you need to know that even though you know about our line of work, you can't know everything there is to know about it." Nightwing said with a sigh. He noticed Black Canary and Red Tornado making their way toward Annabeth's room and he signaled them to give him a minute.

"Look John, if Annabeth's recovery progresses the way it currently is, she can come home tonight. But I can't promise anything." Nightwing said quickly.

"Some Leaguers are there aren't they?" John said with a chuckle. Nightwing looked at his phone to make sure the video chat wasn't on by mistake.

"How did you-?"

"I'm a detective, Dick. Give me some credit for it." John said with a laugh, he said goodbye and hung up.

Black Canary and Red Tornado stopped outside Annabeth's room; Black Canary gave him a smile.

"Was that Nightingale's...?"

"Yeah, he worried sick about her and wants to see her. But he knows the reasons why he can't." Nightwing replied. He smiled to himself. "He's a good man; I can see why Gale loves him so much."

Black Canary smiled again and gestured for them to enter her room. The two Leaguers ran a few tests on her vitals and it all came back good.

Just as Red Tornado was applying clean gauze, Annabeth began to stir. She blinked a few times and looked around the room.

"Hello Nightingale, how are you feeling?" Red Tornado asked, continuing the application. Annabeth yawned and shrugged, earning a look from the android before his continued and finished off by standing up and stepping away.

"A bit nauseous and sore," Annabeth replied, wiping at the corners of her eyes. She looked at Black Canary expectantly.

"We've ran tests on you while you were resting and you're in the clear. Your largest injury is your right side and that itself seems to be clearing up. Red Tornado and the Atom checked for possible radiation from Blue Beetle's plasma gun, there were no traces of and radiation." Black Canary informed her, Annabeth picked up on the hesitation that the blonde attempted to hide.

Annabeth allowed Black Canary to do the routine checkup; her blood pressure, lung clarity, hearing and eyesight.

"Everything seems fine, so there's a possibility you can go home today." Black Canary said with a smile. Annabeth smiled as well.

"Good, I just want to go home and rest."

"Here's a change of clothes, Captain Atom wants you to inform the Leaguers present on what happened in the Warworld." Nightwing said, tossing a black bag toward his elder sister. Annabeth caught it with ease and gave a shrug.

Black Canary and Red Tornado made their exit and Nightwing was about to do the same until Annabeth stopped him.

"Dick, this is all my fault." she said softly. Nightwing turned and removed his glasses.

"Anna B-"

"If I had told you John's theory, then none of this would've happened." Annabeth interrupted. She clasped her hands tightly. "If only I had said something sooner, then maybe all of this wouldn't have happened. The team wouldn't be missing...Jaime wouldn't have turned on us, everything is my fault."

Dick sat beside Annabeth and pulled her close, rubbing his hand on her back. Annabeth's body shook and she sniffed. Then Dick's mind returned to John's theory.

"What did John say?"

"The day after I went back for my tablet, I told him what happened and he said that the Scarab could've done it. I never even thought of that, and he wanted me to tell you, but I didn't..."

Dick took in a deep breath. He leaned back and kissed her forehead.

"Look, Anna B, none of this is your fault. I don't blame you for it; it could've happened even if we knew about this. So don't blame yourself." Dick reassured, "It was a simple slip up."

"A simple slip up that caused my team to go missing!" Annabeth protested.

"We'll find the team, don't worry. Just get changed and meet me in the main hall." Dick replied, he gave her shoulder a reassuring squeeze and exited the room. Annabeth took a few minutes to calm down and went to take a shower in the en suite bathroom.

She stepped out twenty minutes later and looked down on her wound. It was close to being healed, she supposed the caked on blood just made it seem worse. Pulling on the dark colored light weight shirt, she slipped into the cargo pants Dick packed for her and tied the laces on her sneakers.

She glanced at her reflection in the mirror and was horrified with what she saw.

Her eyes were red and puffy, light bluish purple bags formed under them. Her face was pale, even after coming out of a steaming hot shower. Blue eyes seemed dull in comparison to the ones that Annabeth Wayne always wore for a new day at Wayne Enterprises.

"I look like crap." she muttered, she ran cold water over her face and patted her cheeks twice, taking in a deep breath.

The redness disappeared and the color returned to her eyes, but her face was still pale.

"Blame it on the blood loss." she told herself. The brunet then set out to going to the main hall.

She was greeted by Flash and Wally; the younger speedster held her in a tight hug. Annabeth wanted to hug him back but he was leaning onto her injury.

Wally sensed her discomfort and apologized immediately. Flash patted her shoulder.

"Good to know you're alright, Annabeth." Flash told her, smiling gently. Annabeth nodded in return.

"Yeah,." she said. The brunet smiled to the rest of the Leaguers present and noticed that even Roy was there. She walked over to him and raised an eyebrow.

"I heard from Ollie that you were seriously injured and I came to check up on you." Roy said, placing his hands into his back pockets.

"Thanks."

"You helped me out when I needed it. I'm just repaying the favor." Roy replied, smiling at her. Annabeth gave Captain Atom the footage from her mask.

"This is going to be your best bet if you want the answers to your questions." she said with a shrug. Cap nodded and ran the footage.

As the Leaguers were busy with the footage, Annabeth's phone vibrated in her pocket. The caller ID made her eyes water slightly.

Nightwing looked away from the video before him in disgust, watching Blue Beetle attack the team wasn't something he'd like to see on repeat. He glanced back to where Annabeth was-should've been.

The zeta beam, however, was just powering down. He shook his head and returned to the video.

Gotham City

May 28 13:30 EST

Annabeth ran from the elevator to the Batcave and into the living room. She stopped at the door way and took in deep breaths, her lungs burned for fresh air as she hadn't stopped running since she left the Watchtower.

Sitting on the expensive leather seat was John's shaking form. His head was bowed down and his left leg was bouncing uncontrollably, his hands were clasped tightly in-between his legs. The GCPD emblem was visible on his work jacket.

"John," she breathed. The said ebony looked up; relief flooded his eyes as he sighed.

Alfred, who Annabeth hadn't previously noticed, gave her a relieved smile. The English-men walked up to her and patted her shoulders.

"Thank Goodness you're alright, Madam." he said with a teary smile. He kissed her forehead, something he's never done before, and exited like the proper butler.

Annabeth's eyes filled with tears and she walked toward John, who at this time had stood up.

"Don't ever scare me like that again." he demanded, taking her face in his hands and squeezing gently. He wiped under her eyes, catching the tears and hugged her tightly.

"Sorry John," she muttered, holding his jacket within her fists tightly," But scaring your loved ones are in the job description."

John gave her a bittersweet laugh. He pulled back and kissed her sweetly.

"I know that, but just try not to die on every mission you go on." he asked. John licked his lips and spoke.

"I had a bad feeling all shift and I just needed to hear your voice to make sure you were okay. I called you so many times, and when you didn't pick up I got frantic. So I called Dick and he told me what happened...I tried not to let him hear me on the verge of having a nervous breakdown, but he probably did anyway. It got to the point where Gordon sent me home because he just knew I was distracted."

"Gordon's that good." Annabeth commented with a laugh. John laughed as well.

"No kidding." he sighed and sat back down on the couch, bringing Annabeth with him. They remained like that for a few minutes, enjoying each other's company.

"Everything is going to get tougher after today." Annabeth remarked. She sat up and stared at him intensely.

"The risk is going to get higher and I can't always guarantee that I'm going to come out _unscathed_. Right now, I'm even wondering if I'm going to come back at all after these missions." she laughed bitterly.

"Today I escaped with an inch of my life, but who knows if tomorrow I won't be able to escape. Can you really deal with me living a life like this? Are you going to be able to stay with me while knowing I might not come back? If not, then this is your chance to walk out of this life."

Annabeth felt her heart tightening. Of course she didn't want John to leave her life! In fact, he was the first 'outsider' she allowed to be aware the family secret. John didn't treat her like Annabeth Wayne, the daughter of the Gotham City millionaire, but like a normal person. He always took her out to simple dates, like movies and nice walks in the park, something that Annabeth would've done every day if she didn't have 'Wayne' as a surname. All of her other boyfriends tried to spoil her with expensive things, but John spoiled her with love and simple gifts. Annabeth tried not to let her hesitation show, but she was sure her eyes were tearing up a bit.

John glared at her and squeezed her hands tightly.

"If you're trying to scare me, then it's not going to work." He promised firmly. "The day I found out who you were, the day I found out that I loved you was the day I promised to stay with you, and even if this is the kind of job you're doing. Do I like it? No, not in the least. Can I do anything about it? Not the last time I checked. But can I support you, treasure you, and love you even more? You better believe I can and I _will_."

He held her face in his hands and gave it a gentle shake. "So don't try to get me to run away. I'm staying."

Annabeth hugged him tightly and felt suddenly weak emotionally. She mentally prayed that the invasion would be over soon.

"Anna B, at the end of the day, I'm always going to stay with you." John promised her, kissing her temple.

'But I doubt I'm going to stay with you...'she replied mentally.


End file.
